NEW  SCHOOLS 
FOR  OLD 


Evelyn  Dewey 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


NEW   SCHOOLS   FOR   OLD 


PORTER    RURAL   SCHOOL,    OCTOBER    14,    1912,    AND    SOME   OF   THE 
LABOR  THAT  AIDED  IN  ITS  RECONSTRUCTION 


NEW  SCHOOLS 
FOR  OLD 

The  Regeneration  of  the 
Porter  School 


BY 
EVELYN  DEWEY 


NEW  YORK 

E.  P.  DUTTON  &  COMPANY 

68 1  FIFTH  AVENUE 


COPYRIGHT  1919 
BY  E.  P.  DUTTON  &  COMPANY 


All  Rights  Reserved 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


Educi;  .a 
Lioraz-y 


To  the  Parents  and  Children  of 

PORTER 

whose  enthusiasm  and  neigh- 
borly spirit  have  built  up 
a  Community 


^ 25275G 


PREFACE 

THERE  are  many  reasons  why  an  account  of 
Mrs.  Harvey's  work  should  be  given  to  the  pub- 
lic. What  she  has  accomplished  in  Porter 
Community  has  a  vital  message  for  everyone 
who  is  interested  in  democracy.  She  has  built 
up  a  community  able  to  deal  with  its  own  prob- 
lems and  to  work  together  for  a  constructive 
realization  of  the  ideals  of  our  country.  She 
has  done  this  by  a  method  that  cannot  fail  to 
be  helpful  to  every  teacher  and  social  worker. 
It  is  a  method  which  takes  what  is  at  hand  as 
foundation  and  builds  ideals  and  character 
qualities  that  make  for  success  in  any  environ- 
ment. The  specific  reaction  upon  agricultural 
problems  is  the  most  spectacular  result  of  the 
work.  The  school  set  in  a  farming  region  has 
already  produced  from  a  typical  stagnated  dis- 
trict a  group  of  people  enthusiastic  over  farm- 
ing as  a  profession  and  equipped  to  turn  their 
enthusiasm  into  prosperous,  permanent  farm 
homes.  Perhaps  the  most  significant  single 
thing  about  the  work  is  that  it  has  been  accom- 
plished with  no  greater  resources  than  are 
vii 


PREFACE 

available  in  any  isolated  district.  Mrs.  Harvey 
is  so  convinced  of  the  possibilities  for  new 
schools  and  a  new  farm  life  that  lie  in  every 
district  that  she  has  remained  in  Porter  in  spite 
of  great  sacrifice  and  hardships.  Mrs.  Harvey 
and  Miss  Crecelius  are  pioneers  in  the  real 
sense  of  the  word.  They  have  blazed  a  trail 
which  is  easy  and  satisfying  to  follow,  but 
which  has  cost  the  best  that  they  had  to  give. 

Without  the  cooperation  of  the  Bureau  of 
Educational  Experiments  of  New  York  City, 
Mrs.  Harvey  would  not  have  been  able  to  do 
all  that  she  has  to  help  other  teachers  and  other 
communities.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  some 
method  may  still  be  found  by  which  the  Porter 
school  of  to-day  may  become  a  permanent  in- 
stitution and  so  help  every  backward  district 
find  itself. 

NEW  YORK  CITY,  APRIL,  1919. 


Vltl 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PACE 

I    THE  COUNTRY   LIFE   MOVEMENT I 

II    THE  LITTLE  RED   SCHOOL   HOUSE  TODAY    .     .  26 

III  How  PORTER  FOUND  A  SOLUTION  OF  THE  SCHOOL 

PROBLEM 52 

IV  THE  STORY  OF  THE  NEW  PORTER  SCHOOL    .     .  73 
V    THE  GROWTH  OF  THE  COMMUNITY      ....  102 

VI    THE  SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  SCHOOL 134 

VII    ETHICS  AND  THE  SOCIAL  SCHOOL 168 

VIII    THE  SCHOOL  AND  THE  ECONOMIC  INTERESTS  OF 

PORTER        190 

IX    THE  SCHOOL  PROGRAM  AND  ORGANIZATION    .     .  223 

X    AGRICULTURE  AND  THE  CURRICULUM    ....  252 
XI    THE  PLACE  OF  READING  AND  WRITING  IN  THE 

CURRICULUM 293 

XII    EDUCATION  FOR  DEMOCRACY 322 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PORTER  RURAL  SCHOOL,  OCTOBER  14,  1912       Frontispiece 

FACING  PAGE 

MRS.  MARIE  TURNER  HARVEY 10 

A  GLIMPSE  OF  THE  OLD  SCHOOLROOM        ....  34 

A  DETAIL  OF  THE  SCHOOL  INTERIOR  IN  THE  OLD  DAYS        .  42 

MAP  OF  THE  DISTRICT 50 

THE  NEW  BASEMENT 66 

THE  FIRST  TEACHER'S  COTTAGE  IN  MISSOURI        .        .  74 
RE-ROOFING  THE  SCHOOL  HOUSE  IN  1917         .        .        .82 

THE  "Bus"  THAT  VISITS  OUTLYING  HOMES        .        .  90 

GIRLS'  TOILET  BEFORE  AND  AFTER  RECONSTRUCTION        .  98 

PORTER  COMMUNITY  BAND 130 

THE  RED  CROSS  IN  PORTER  SCHOOL         ....  146 

FIRST  GRADUATING  CLASS 162 

SOCIAL  GAMES  IN  THE  SCHOOLROOM        ....  186 
A  MOVABLE  SCHOOL  OF  AGRICULTURE        ....  202 
A  MOVABLE  SCHOOL  OF  HOME  ECONOMICS        .        .        .  210 
A  MOVABLE  SCHOOL  OF  HOME  ECONOMICS  IN  THE  BASE- 
MENT           218 

CO-OPERATIVE  MOVING  OF  THE  TENANT  HOUSE        .        .  242 

A  PRACTICAL  BOTANY  LESSON  AT  THE  TEACHER'S  COTTAGE  250 

AT  WORK  IN  THE  SCHOOL  GARDEN        ....  266 

A  PROMISING  YOUNG  MEMBER  OF  THE  POULTRY  CLUB        .  274 

THE  SCHOOL  GARDEN  Two  YEARS  AFTER  ORGANIZATION  282 

DISTRIBUTING  VEGETABLE  AND  FLOWERING  PLANTS       .  290 


NEW   SCHOOLS   FOR  OLD 


NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

CHAPTER  I 

THE  COUNTBY  LIFE   MOVEMENT 

WITH  the  growing  realization  that  agricul- 
tural communities  in  this  country  are  in  grave 
danger  of  being  left  far  behind  in  the  march  for 
social  and  economic  progress,  a  number  of 
movements  have  sprung  up  to  spur  on  the 
farmer.  City  dwellers,  realizing  that  a  country 
can  be  only  as  strong  as  its  agriculture,  have 
sought  to  help  with  the  cry  of  "Back  to  the 
Land",  hereby  hoping  to  serve  the  double  pur- 
pose of  increasing  th^  body  of  farmers  and 
decreasing  the  excess  population  of  the  cities. 
Any  agitation  which  f  ocusses  attention  on  rural 
problems  must  contribute  something;  but  the 
migration  of  untrained  towns-people  to  the 
country  and  a  new  life  with  unfamiliar  condi- 
tions cannot  help  constructively  to  change  coun- 
try life.  More  important,  however,  are  the 
movements  that  originate  in  the  country,  be- 

i 


2  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

cause  they  attack  directly  the  difficulties  that 
face  the  fanning  population.  Concrete  at- 
tempts at  reform  have  been  aimed  at  two 
factors  in  country  life :  first,  agricultural  meth- 
ods and  second,  education.  They  have  been  for 
the  most  part  separate;  agricultural  colleges, 
foundations,  and  associations  are  preaching  and 
teaching  improved  farm  practices  to  adult 
farmers ;  normal  schools  and  educators,  shocked 
by  the  deplorable  condition  of  the  country 
schools,  are  trying  to  improve  them.  The  two 
problems  are  but  the  two  halves  of  the  same, 
and  hence  the  first  problem  cannot  be  success- 
fully solved  without  the  second.  The  funda- 
mental relationship  of  the  two  can  be  shown  in 
a  discussion  of  another  movement. 

This  is  the  Country  Life  movement ;  a  move- 
ment not  to  solve  any  one  phase  of  the  rural 
problem,  but  so  to  improve  conditions  of  living 
in  the  country  as  to  raise  standards  of  efficiency 
to  the  point  where  problems  can  be  settled  by  a 
body  of  intelligent,  prosperous  and  progressive 
farmers.  Lack  of  knowledge  of  scientific  meth- 
ods of  agriculture,  and  consequent  poverty,  are 
but  one  phase  of  country  conditions  that  make 
for  stagnation.  Social  conditions  are  the  chief 
cause  of  the  farmer's  discontent,  and  as  they 
improve,  farm  practices,  health,  and  the  rural 


school  will  cease  to  be  special  problems.  The 
familiar  symptoms  of  agricultural  stagnation 
are  the  steady  movement  of  the  rising  genera- 
tion from  the  country  to  the  city  and  the  great 
increase  of  tenant  farmers.  It  is  estimated  that 
forty  per  cent  of  the  farms  in  this  country  are 
now  worked  by  renters.  The  causes  back  of 
these  symptoms  are  what  concern  the  workers 
in  the  Country  Life  Movement.  Since  the  prob- 
lem is  a  social  one,  until  it  is  attacked  from  the 
social  point  of  view,  all  attempts  to  meet  any 
one  isolated  difficulty  must  be  uneconomical  and 
only  superficially  successful. 

With  the  exception  of  a  few  small  regions  of 
the  country,  life  on  a  farm  is  not  attractive. 
The  isolation  and  drudgery  of  the  average  fam- 
ily's  life  overshadow  the  advantages  of  inde- 
pendence, and  hence  those  who  can  move  away 
from  the  farm  do  so,  and  vast  numbers  of  those 
who  cannot  move  become  mere  machines  for  the 
shiftless  performance  of  endless  routine  work. 
Compared  with  life  in  a  city,  life  on  a  farm  must 
always  mean  hard  work  and  isolation.  However, 
an  intelligent  and  determined  attempt  to  reduce 
these  evils  to  a  minimum  and  to  develop  the 
largely  unexplored  possibilities  of  farm  life 
would  result  in  a  speedy  solution  of  the  prob- 
lem. It  is  usually  impossible  for  the  farmer  to 


4  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

get  away  from  home  for  more  than  a  few  hours 
at  a  time,  because  the  live  stock  must  be  fed 
and  cared  for.  Thus  from  the  start  he  is  habit- 
uated to  a  stay-at-home  life.  And  as  long  as 
the  country  remains  as  thinly  settled  as  at 
present,  comparative  isolation  is  bound  to  be 
the  general  rule,  but  complete  separation  from 
the  outside  world  and  from  neighbors,  now  so 
common,  is  not  a  necessity. 

In  general,  success  on  a  farm  is  measured  by 
the  amount  of  work  that  is  put  in.  Therefore, 
the  daily  program  is  arranged  to  stretch  the 
working  day  to  its  limits.  When  the  day  is 
over  the  household  is  too  tired  for  anything  but 
bed.  Evening  visiting  is  very  rare,  and  day- 
time visiting,  except  for  business,  is  impossible. 
Beading,  every  form  of  social  relaxation,  is  al- 
most unknown  in  thousands  of  farm  homes,  be- 
cause of  this  endless  pressure  for  work,  and  the 
resulting  fatigue.  The  story  of  the  farm  woman 
who  lived  ten  years  in  a  community  and  then 
met,  for  the  first  time  at  the  state  fair,  a  neigh- 
bor, who  lived  only  two  miles  away,  does  not 
picture  any  unusual  circumstances.  There  are 
many  homes  where  a  lamp  is  lighted  only  in 
the  short  days  of  winter;  during  most  of  the 
year  darkness  is  the  signal  for  bed.  There  is 
nothing  to  read  in  these  houses,  except,  perhaps, 


THE  COUNTRY  LIFE  MOVEMENT   5 

a  farm  or  church  weekly  newspaper  and  a  hand- 
ful of  left  over  school  books.  In  good  weather 
the  family  will  occasionally  go  to  church,  and 
the  man  of  the  household  goes  to  the  nearest 
town  once  a  week  or  so  for  supplies  and  to  sell 
produce ;  his  wife  usually  thinks  she  is  too  busy 
to  go  with  him.  Once  or  twice  a  week  a  passing 
neighbor  may  stop  for  a  few  minutes '  chat ;  once 
or  twice  a  year  there  is  a  funeral  or  a  wedding, 
and  this  is  all  the  relief  from  work  year  in  and 
year  out.  There  is  leisure  in  the  winter,  but 
the  roads  are  so  bad,  keeping  warm  in  an  open 
carriage  so  difficult,  and  habits  of  staying  at 
home  so  fixed  that  this  leisure  is  not  used  for 
greater  sociability. 

The  children  of  a  community  meet  at  school, 
play  and  work  together,  and  form  the  natural, 
wholesome  habits  that  come  from  belonging  to 
a  social  group.  In  the  life  of  their  parents  they 
see  just  the  opposite  of  this,  a  life  confined  ex- 
clusively to  the  household.  It  is  no  wonder 
then  that  the  children  look  to  the  town  for  the 
only  opportunity  to  continue  and  broaden  the 
life  they  have  known  at  school.  The  noise  and 
movement,  the  opportunities  for  recreation  at 
every  turn,  above  all  the  chance  to  feel  them- 
selves part  of  a  group  exercise  a  fascination 
for  which  the  average  community  does  not  even 


6  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOB  OLD 

attempt  to  find  a  substitute.  In  their  own 
homes  there  is  no  example  from  which  they  can 
learn  to  cultivate  their  social  possibilities;  the 
school  ignores  the  problem.  Conscious  of  the 
lack  in  their  lives,  but  unequipped  to  supply  it 
themselves,  they  are  only  too  ready  to  seize  the 
slightest  chance  to  exchange  the  farm  for  the 
town.  This  state  of  affairs  is  harder  on  the 
girls  than  the  boys.  The  latter  are  freer  to 
choose,  and  come  to  look  to  the  town  for  all 
their  recreation,  even  if  they  do  noi  leave  home. 
But  parents,  in  order  to  protect  their  daughters 
from  the  dangers  of  the  town,  allow  them  to  go 
very  rarely.  The  result  is  that  farm  girls  are 
cut  off  from  all  lands  of  social  outlet  just  at 
the  age  when  they  need  it  most.  On  leaving 
school  the  daily  companionship  with  their 
schoolmates  ceases,  and  their  brothers  and  boy 
friends  are  fast  drifting  into  the  habit  of  spend- 
ing their  one  leisure  evening,  Saturday,  in  town. 
It  is  equally  true  that  the  farmer 's  wife  is 
more  isolated  than  her  husband;  partly  be- 
cause of  that  division  of  labor,  which  gives  the 
man  the  control  of  buying  and  selling;  but 
chiefly  because,  due  to  habit  and  convention,  go- 
ing to  town,  business  calls,  errands  and  ex- 
change of  labor  are  left  to  the  men.  The  women 
are  also  cut  off  from  the  political  life  of  the  men. 


THE  COUNTRY  LIFE  MOVEMENT      7 

In  school  meetings,  local  elections,  road  mend- 
ings, etc.,  the  men  not  only  find  social  outlet,  but 
they  get  training,  in  thinking  and  acting  as  a 
group,  a  chance  to  express  their  instinct  for 
leadership  and  organization.  In  regions  where 
the  granges  are  strong,  men  and  women  both 
get  more  opportunity  for  social  activity,  and 
there  is  usually  a  church  in  every  neighborhood, 
but  both  these  outlets  are  voluntary  and  do  not 
absorb  the  whole  community. 

This  isolation  is  probably  the  chief  cause  of 
the  farmers'  traditional  conservatism  and  lack 
of  initiative.  Where  there  is  almost  no  inter- 
change of  ideas,  even  through  books,  it  is  not 
strange  that  opinions  and  beliefs  do  not  change 
rapidly.  Cities  are  the  homes  of  progress  and 
reform,  not  because  the  city  dweller  is  naturally 
more  intelligent  and  energetic  than  the  farmer, 
but  because  the  latter  is  not  forced  into  daily 
contact  with  numbers  of  people.  The  farmer 
is  not  subjected  to  the  pressure  of  having  to 
earn  a  living  in  an  occupation  that  is  obviously 
only  one  small  part  of  a  great  whole.  Eacli 
farm  is  more  or  less  an  independent  unit  in  it- 
self, and  is  largely  self-supporting ;  the  farmer 
can  go  along  as  he  always  has  and  as  his  father 
did  before  him  and  still  keep  going.  He  is  slip- 
ping behind,  of  course,  but  the  process  is  so 


8  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

gradual  and  the  cause  so  hard  to  see  that  it 
does  not  spur  him  to  new  and  different  efforts. 
If  he  does  not  keep  at  least  at  the  heels  of 
progress  the  man  in  the  city  is  overtaken  by 
swift  ruin  because  of  a  competition  which  he 
can  see  and  feel.  This  lack  of  competition  is 
felt  as  much  in  the  world  of  ideas  as  in  that  of 
business.  The  farmer  may  form  his  ideas  and 
beliefs  to  fit  a  world  that  existed  when  his  father 
was  young,  and  he  may  grow  old  without  ever 
having  had  any  pressing  occasion  to  change 
them.  He  associates  little  with  people  outside 
the  family,  and  then  with  a  small  group  who  are 
nearly  as  familiar  as  his  relatives ;  he  reads  lit- 
tle, and  conditions  about  him  change  so  slowly 
as  to  be  almost  imperceptible.  His  outworn 
ideas  seem  still  to  belong  to  the  world  he  lives 
in,  or  if  they  clash  he  has  only  to  withdraw  a 
little  from  his  neighbors  and  he  is  intrenched  in 
a  castle  where  the  slow  and  rare  forces  that 
operate  for  change  go  past  unnoted. 

Although  the  farmer  is  isolated  socially  and 
economically  he  is  really  no  more  independent 
of  the  social  and  economic  forces  that  influence 
and  bring  changes  than  the  city  worker.  His 
relations  with  other  industries  and  institutions 
are  less  obvious,  but  not  less  fundamental. 
Farmers  feed  the  nation ;  if  they  fail,  we  must 


THE  COUNTRY  LIFE  MOVEMENT   9 

either  make  a  costly  readjustment  so  that  we 
can  get  the  food  from  other  countries,  or  we 
must  fail  with  the  farmers.  The  nation  makes 
demands  on  the  farmer  to  supply  this  food 
under  changing  conditions.  To  meet  the  de- 
mand with  any  success  he  must  be  ready  for 
and  understand  these  changes.  The  kind  of 
demand  must  influence  the  way  he  works,  just 
as  his  success  or  failure  influences  the  rest  of 
the  country.  Agriculture  is  the  fundamental 
industry  of  a  nation  on  which  all  other  indus- 
tries rest.  The  food  supply  must  be  assured 
before  people  can  turn  their  energies  to  other 
types  of  production.  The  war  has  demonstrated 
this  interdependence  of  farm  and  city  life,  and, 
in  focussing  attention  on  the  extent  to  which  a 
nation  is  affected  by  agricultural  conditions, 
has  pointed  out  to  the  farmer  the  responsibility 
for  meeting  world  situations  that  rests  upon 
him.  The  splendid  way  in  which  he  has  re- 
sponded to  the  increased  demands  shows  that 
he  is  able  to  adjust  quickly  to  changed  con- 
ditions, to  put  forth  new  energy  and  show  initia- 
tive. In  the  present  emergency  farmers  as  a 
class  have  proved  that  their  usual  conserva- 
tism and  failure  to  keep  up  with  modern 
changes  are  not  fundamental  traits  that  must 
be  accepted  as  necessary  evils  of  agricultural 


10  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

life,  but  are  rather  the  result  of  the  economic 
conditions  and  social  surroundings  in  which  the 
farmer  lives. 

Farmers  are  unorganized;  they  produce  not 
as  part  of  an  industry,  or  even  as  members  of 
a  group,  but  as  individuals.  The  demand  for 
their  surplus  product  is  not  a  demand  for 
standardized  articles,  made  for  conditions  that 
are  familiar  to  the  farmer,  but  a  general  de- 
mand for  food  that  comes  from  every  part  of 
the  population  and  every  part  of  the  country. 
Usually  the  markets  they  supply  are  distant 
and  unfamiliar.  The  lives  and  business  meth- 
ods of  the  people  who  buy  their  surplus  are 
strange  to  them.  There  is  probably  no  other 
form  of  production  that  could  continue  selling 
to  distant,  unfamiliar  markets  for  any  length  of 
time,  without  organization  or  knowledge  of  the 
conditions  which  it  must  meet.  The  farmer  is 
already  suffering  from  his  failure  to  take  a 
more  active  part  in  those  business  affairs  which 
concern  him  most  intimately,  and  unless  he 
wakes  up  to  the  possibilities  of  organized  scien- 
tific farming,  rural  conditions  will  become  much 
worse  than  they  are  at  present. 

Economic  stagnation  is  reinforced  by  the 
dreary  social  conditions  on  the  farm,  forming 
together  a  vicious  circle,  each  emphasizing  the 


MRS.  MARIE  TURNER  HARVEY 


THE  COUNTRY  LIFE  MOVEMENT  11 

other.  Without  economic  enterprise  the  farmer 
is  poor.  His  poverty  makes  it  impossible  for 
him  to  improve  his  living  conditions  or  his  so- 
cial habits.  And  initiative,  energy  and  busi- 
ness daring  cannot  develop  under  the  living  con- 
ditions that  are  to  be  found  on  farms  all  over 
the  country.  These  conditions  are  worst,  per- 
haps, where  the  natural  resources  are  least  ad- 
vantageous for  farming,  but  they  are  by  no 
means  confined  to  these  regions.  That  they  are 
not  a  necessary  part  of  country  life  is  proved 
by  the  situation  in  a  few  parts  of  the  country, 
where  the  farmers  are  prosperous,  comfortable, 
progressive,  and  influential. 

The  reform  of  any  one  isolated  feature  of 
farming  conditions  must  then  be  a  makeshift; 
no  matter  how  well  it  is  adapted  to  solve  the 
individual  problem,  the  general  conditions  of 
farm  living  will  remain  in  the  same  unsatisfac- 
tory state,  and  will  constantly  counteract  and 
hamper  particular  improvements.  What  is 
needed  is  something  to  shake  the  farmer  from 
his  apathy  and  time-honored  habits  of  isola- 
tion; not  a  lesson  in  how  to  produce  larger 
crops  to  the  acre,  but  something  which  will  make 
him  realize  the  need  of  better  farming  and  equip 
him  to  find  out  for  himself  how  it  is  to  be  done. 
Opening  up  to  the  fanner  the  possibilities  which 


12  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

lie  within  himself  will  open  to  him  the  doors  of 
comfortable  living,  prosperity  and  serviceable 
citizenship.  Doing  this  effectively  means,  of 
course,  beginning  with  the  children  and  raising 
a  new  generation  who  shall  be  able  to  take  their 
meager  heritage  and  increase  it  a  thousand- 
fold. The  necessity  of  an  educational  attack 
on  country  life  cannot  be  over-emphasized,  be- 
cause the  failure  of  the  farmer  to  come  up  to 
the  standards  of  the  rest  of  the  world  to-day  is 
not  to  be  explained  by  some  one  evil,  but  by  the 
farmer  himself  and  his  whole  life. 

Generalities  about  the  drudgery  and  isolation 
of  farm  life  give  so  little  hint  of  actual  condi- 
tions as  to  be  almost  meaningless  to  one  who 
has  not  seen  them.  The  average  town-dweller 
speaks  of  fertile  farm  land  and  sees  a  picture 
of  a  farmer  living  in  a  big,  comfortable  house, 
surrounded  by  stretches  of  fields  yielding  bum- 
per crops,  living  on  the  fat  of  the  land,  subscrib- 
ing to  all  the  magazines  and  having  leisurely 
evenings  in  which  to  read  them,  riding  over 
beautiful  roads  in  his  Ford,  and  taking  part  in 
a  generous  neighborhood  life  that  unites  the 
whole  community  into  a  prosperous,  happy  fam- 
ily. Something  approaching  this  does  exist  in 
certain  portions  of  the  middle  and  far  West, 
and  there  are,  of  course,  well-to-do  farmers  all 


THE  COUNTRY  LIFE  MOVEMENT  13 

over  the  country  who  are  keeping  up  with  the 
times.  But  even  in  very  rich  regions  the  truth 
falls  so  very  far  short  of  this  rosy  picture  as 
to  make  one  hesitate  to  describe  it.  A  country 
life  commission  of  a  few  years  back  suppressed 
the  bulk  of  their  report  because  they  felt  an 
accurate  description  of  rural  conditions  would 
paint  such  a  discouraging  picture  as  to  do  more 
harm  than  good.  It  is  no  part  of  this  discussion 
to  go  into  these  conditions  in  any  detail,  but  a 
description  of  a  typical  farm  in  a  rich  farming 
country  will  emphasize  the  fundamental  nature 
of  the  changes  that  are  necessary. 

In  attempting  any  description  some  one  re- 
gion must  be  selected  and  certain  conditions 
prevailing  there  will  doubtless  be  local,  but  the 
general  picture  is  not  extreme.  The  country 
chosen  is  fertile,  the  land  valuable,  and  the 
farmers  all  American  with  generations  of  pio- 
neer life  behind  them,  and  though  there  is  little 
surplus  money,  the  pinch  of  actual  poverty  is 
very  rare.  On  a  large  farm,  raising  grain  al- 
most exclusively,  the  same  fields  are  planted  to 
the  same  crops  year  after  year,  while  the  same 
land  lies  idle  indefinitely,  the  amount  of  ferti- 
lizing done  is  almost  negligible,  and  no  records 
are  kept  to  show  the  actual  decrease  in  yield. 
The  farmer  looks  at  his  crop,  knows  it  is  poor, 


14  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

but  plants  there  the  next  year.  The  woodland 
has  been  destroyed  before  his  time,  but  he  does 
nothing  to  replant,  and  continues  to  cut  the  few 
trees  that  are  left  as  he  needs  wood.  The  farm 
is  stocked  with  pure  bred  cows  that  are  cared 
for  with  skill  and  real  knowledge,  but  the  poul- 
try yard  contains  a  few  mongrel  hens  that  eat 
quantities  of  expensive  food  and  lay  the  mini- 
mum number  of  eggs,  which  sell  for  a  low  price 
because  the  supply  is  small  and  irregular. 
There  are  no  fruit  trees  on  the  place,  except 
some  old  apple  trees  that  are  not  sprayed,  and 
therefore  yield  only  a  few  bushels  of  wormy 
fruit.  There  is  no  garden  on  the  farm;  a  tiny 
patch  like  a  flower  bed  is  planted  with  radishes 
and  lettuce  in  the  spring,  and  some  root  vege- 
tables, potatoes,  turnips  and  beets  are  grown, 
but  fruit  and  green  vegetables  are  bought  in 
cans  at  the  village  grocery  store.  Thanksgiving 
pies  are  made  with  canned  pumpkin.  No  vege- 
tables, except  roots,  are  saved  for  winter  use, 
and  no  preserves  or  jellies  are  made  in  most 
homes.  Meat  is  preserved,  especially  pork;  at 
hog-killing  time,  bacon  and  ham  are  smoked  and 
salt  pork  put  down,  and  a  great  deal  of  sausage 
is  made.  To  keep  this  through  the  year  it  is 
partially  cooked,  packed  in  pails  and  covered 
with  boiling  grease  to  seal  it.  This  forms  the 


THE  COUNTRY  LIFE  MOVEMENT  15 

staple  diet  during  the  winter  and  through  the 
hot  summer  until  it  is  gone.  The  regular  menu 
the  year  around  is  pork,  potatoes,  and  hot 
bread  or  pancakes.  Ill  health  results  and  is  met 
with  liberal  dosings  of  patent  medicines.  A 
story  comes  of  a  Southern  farmer  who  was  sup- 
posed to  have  epileptic  fits ;  he  moved  to  another 
part  of  the  country  where  a  varied  diet  was  the 
rule,  and  has  never  had  a  fit  since.  Every  coun- 
try doctor  and  teacher  will  admit  that  general 
poor  health  is  just  as  prevalent  in  the  country  as 
in  the  city  slum,  and  that  care  and  hygiene  are 
not  nearly  so  good.  Sleeping  with  shut  win- 
dows and  closing  everything  air-tight  in  the 
fall  without  letting  in  any  fresh  air  until  spring 
are  general  habits. 

The  comparative  size  and  comfort  of  the 
barns  and  the  house  cease  to  be  the  joke  the 
casual  traveler  makes  of  them  if  you  happen  to 
be  the  farmer's  wife  who  is  doing  the  work  in 
the  house.  A  square  box  of  a  house — four 
rooms,  two  to  a  floor,  shelter  a  family  of  four, 
and  whatever  hired  help  there  may  be.  There 
are  no  closets,  no  furnace,  no  lights,  no  running 
water  and  no  drainage.  No  attempt  has  been 
made  to  install  any  labor-saving  devices.  The 
fanner's  wife  gets  up  at  four  in  the  morning, 
cooks  a  substantial  breakfast  of  cornmeal  mush, 


16  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

salt  pork,  potatoes,  coffee  and  biscuits,  helps 
the  men  of  the  household  with  the  milking,  takes 
care  of  the  milk,  washes  the  pans  and  the  sepa- 
rator, feeds  and  waters  the  chickens,  carrying 
the  water  from  the  pump  to  the  chicken  yard  in 
pails.  Then  she  goes  back  to  the  house,  carries 
more  water  for  the  housework,  heats  the  water, 
washes  the  breakfast  dishes,  cleans  the  house, 
does  the  washing  or  ironing,  gets  dinner  for  the 
men  who  come  in  from  the  fields  at  twelve  sharp, 
feeds  the  hens  again,  churns,  cleans  up,  and 
then  has  a  little  leisure  in  which  she  can  tend  to 
what  little  vegetable  garden  there  is  before  it 
is  time  to  get  supper.  In  the  summer  months 
supper  often  is  at  eight  o  'clock  or  after,  so  that 
every  minute  of  daylight  may  be  spent  in  the 
fields.  She  will  help  with  the  evening  milking 
and  tend  to  the  milk  again,  get  an  eight-o'clock 
supper,  wash  the  dishes,  and  her  day  is  done. 
She  probably  does  a  great  deal  of  her  own  sew- 
ing, and,  of  course,  there  are  children  who  must 
be  cared  for  in  most  homes.  When  we  stop  to 
think  that  every  drop  of  water  must  be  carried 
into  the  house  and  heated  on  the  kitchen  range, 
and  all  the  waste  water  carried  out,  that  the 
washing  is  done  in  moveable  tin  tubs,  that,  in 
fact,  nearly  every  bit  of  this  work  is  done  in  the 
very  hardest  way  possible,  it  does  not  seem 


THE  COUNTRY  LIFE  MOVEMENT  17 

strange  that  the  relatively  unnecessary  occu- 
pations of  canning  and  gardening  are  neglected. 
To  get  through  such  a  routine  as  this  and  keep 
any  energy  and  interest  for  study  or  recreation 
requires  ability  and  training.  But  the  farm 
woman  grows  up  seeing  the  work  done  in  this 
way,  erpecting  to  help  with  some  of  the  out- 
door chores,  without  training  to  enable  her  to 
see  and  weigh  values,  or  any  knowledge  of  bet- 
ter ways  of  doing  things.  The  farm  house  is 
the  last  place  on  the  average  farm  where  any 
money  is  spent  for  improvements,  chiefly  be- 
cause the  increased  returns  from  a  comfortable 
home  and  leisure  are  less  tangible  than  from  a 
new  field  or  a  new  piece  of  farm  machinery. 

The  lamps  are  not  lit  at  night.  Writing  a 
letter  is  a  special  chore,  and  is  put  off  as  long 
as  possible.  Reading  and  writing  are  so  little 
a  part  of  the  normal  routine  of  life  that  all 
facility  disappears.  They  know  how  to  read 
and  write,  but  it  is  such  hard  work  that  there  is 
no  pleasure  and  very  little  profit  in  it.  A  gen 
eral  contempt  for  "book  farming"  makes  them 
refuse  to  listen  to  advice  from  agricultural  col- 
leges and  stations  and  leaves  them  wholly  at  a 
loss  in  dealing  with  a  new  problem.  "A  nigger 
and  a  mule"  are  the  best  and  only  reliable  teach- 
ers of  farming.  To  prove  a  new  method  it  must 


18  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

be  watched  through  its  whole  course  and  the 
results  seen  before  it  arouses  even  interest.  A 
new  pest  or  disease  so  long  as  it  does  not  affect 
the  main  crop  is  allowed  to  run  its  course,  and 
the  crop  it  attacks  is  given  up.  A  common  way 
of  dealing  with  insects  is  to  beat  them  off  the 
plants  with  brush.  The  same  lack  of  foresight 
is  shown  in  the  way  the  farmer  buys  and  sells. 
He  does  not  find  out  about  other  crops  or  even 
about  his  special  crop  in  other  regions.  He 
almost  never  combines  with  his  neighbors  to 
gain  any  of  the  advantages  of  cooperative  buy- 
ing and  selling.  He  puts  himself  in  the  hands 
of  the  middle  man  and  distributor,  and  although 
he  has  complete  control  of  the  product,  makes 
no  effort  to  say  anything  about  what  shall  be 
done  with  it.  Each  farm  is  a  business  in  itself. 
Imagine  a  factory  head  or  office  manager  who 
ran  his  business  without  paying  any  attention 
to  what  his  competitors  were  doing,  without  in- 
vestigating the  improvements  other  factories 
were  installing,  without  reading  newspapers  or 
trade  journals,  without  even  trying  to  run  his 
business  so  that  it  would  yield  him  either  a  fair 
return  on  his  investment  or  leisure  for  the  en- 
joyment of  life.  Yet  this  is  what  the  majority 
of  farmers  are  doing. 
A  pamphlet  on  the  advantages  of  alfalfa 


THE  COUNTRY  LIFE  MOVEMENT  19 

raising,  or  an  easy  way  to  build  an  ice-house,  is 
not  going  to  arouse  much  response;  very  prob- 
ably it  will  not  even  be  read  by  the  farmer  whose 
interest  and  hope  in  life  stretches  no  farther 
than  the  accomplishment  of  the  day's  round  of 
work.  He  must  acquire  a  new  point  of  view  in 
all  things  before  he  will  make  changes  and  im- 
provements in  specific  things.  What  is  needed 
is  a  remaking  of  the  structure  of  country  life,  an 
improvement  in  the  social  habits  and  the  work 
habits  of  the  whole  farm  family.  The  schools, 
the  churches,  and  the  granges  are  the  most  po- 
tent factors  for  influence.  Of  these  the  school 
is  by  far  the  most  important,  since  it  is  the  one 
influence  in  the  community  that  touches  all 
homes  alike,  and  since  it  has  the  task  and  the 
opportunity  to  mould  the  lives  and  the  opinions 
of  the  group  who  will  soon  be  the  community. 
The  little  one-room  school  exerts  an  influence 
in  the  life  of  every  child  that  goes  to  it  that  can- 
not be  over-estimated ;  and  every  child  in  a  dis- 
trict spends  the  best  part  of  the  year  there  for 
the  most  important  years  of  his  life.  The  chil- 
dren take  home  what  they  learn  and  thus  the 
life  of  the  whole  family  is  influenced.  If  the 
school  is  working  with  a  definite  aim  and  with 
social  ideals,  the  immediate  influence  of  the 
school  on  the  whole  community  is  easily  traced. 


20  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

The  school  not  only  reaches  the  most  impres- 
sionable element  of  a  neighborhood  in  its  work, 
but  is  the  natural  center  for  the  entire  commun- 
ity life.  It  and  it  alone  belongs  to  the  whole 
community,  everyone  in  the  district  has  the 
right  and  the  opportunity  to  take  an  active  part 
in  its  conduct,  and  in  it  everyone  meets  with- 
out distinctions  of  wealth,  race  or  religion. 
Churches,  granges,  and  clubs  may  exert  a  more 
powerful  influence  on  their  own  membership, 
but  they  do  not  bring  the  community  together 
as  a  unit.  There  are  regions  where  there  are 
no  churches,  granges  or  clubs,  and  even  where 
they  exist  in  a  highly  flourishing  condition, 
there  are  always  certain  families  that  take  no 
part;  there  is  always  more  than  one  church 
and  the  basis  of  clubs  is  an  exclusive  mem- 
bership. Thus  in  spite  of  their  influence 
for  good,  these  institutions  break  up  a  neigh- 
borhood into  different  groups,  with  different  in- 
terests and  different  methods  that  tend  toward 
rivalry  and  increase  the  lines  of  cleavage  as 
they  become  more  successful.  On  the  other 
hand,  no  district  is  so  poor  or  so  scattered  that 
it  does  not  have  its  school  house,  nor  so  busy  or 
clique  that  everyone  in  it  who  has  a  child  does 
not  use  it,  and  all  meet  in  it  on  the  common 
ground  of  their  interest  in  their  children. 


THE  COUNTRY  LIFE  MOVEMENT  21 

Every  country  community  already  has  in  its 
school  the  necessary  machinery  for  changing 
any  or  all  of  the  local  conditions  it  wishes  to  at- 
tack. In  its  school  building  it  has  a  meeting 
place  which  can  become  the  center  of  the  social 
or  educational  life  of  the  adults  as  well  as  of  the 
children,  not  merely  a  building  which  could  be 
used  in  lieu  of  any  other  gathering  place,  but 
the  natural,  logical  center  of  the  common  neigh- 
borhood life. 

If  the  school  is  to  be  used  as  the  center  forl 
the  improvement  of  country  life,  we  must  have  1 
a  different  kind  of  school  from  that  found  in  \ 
the  majority  of  rural  districts.    It  is  not  so  much  - 
better  buildings  or  modern  methods  of  teaching 
(hat  are  needed  as  a  new  spirit,  a  new  vision  of 
the  possibilities  of  country  life  and  of  the  school 
in  that  life.    In  regions  where  there  exists  the 
stagnation  we  have  described,  the  schools  of 
course  reflect  the  same  conditions.    They  are  far 
from  being  a  ready  made  agent  for  the  remaking 
of  farm  life,  and  at  first  sight  may  seem  to  be 
merely  one  of  its  numberless  phases  needing 
change.    But  those  who  have  seen  the  changes 
in  a  whole  community  brought   about  by   a 
changed  school  must  believe  that  with  a  new  kind 
of  school  will  come  new  social  conditions,  better 
agriculture,  better  health  and  betteT  citizenship. 


22  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

The  school  is  the  point  of  departure  for  im- 
proved conditions  because  children  are  the  most 
teachable  element  in  a  community,  because  they 
represent  perhaps  the  strongest  common  in- 
terest in  any  group  of  people,  and  because  in 
the  school  house  every  community  has  a  center 
which  belongs  to  all  alike  and  in  which  all  may 
meet  on  an  equal  footing.  Furthermore  the 
education  of  one  generation  of  farm  children  in 
a  socialized  school  should  banish  forever  the 
necessity  for  reform  and  semi-philanthropic 
movements  originating  from  the  outside.  At 
the  present  practically  every  scheme  that  is 
launched  to  help  the  farmer  is  manned  by  people 
who  are  not  themselves  farmers.  The  farmers ' 
shortcomings  are  far-reaching  enough  to  stir 
people  not  directly  concerned  with  agriculture 
to  try  to  point  the  way  to  greater  efficiency  and 
happiness  on  the  farm.  The  right  kind  of  school 
will  make  outside  interest  unnecessary  for  the 
coming  generation,  for  it  will  teach  country 
children  how  to  develop  the  possibilities  of 
their  environment.  Such  schools  are  at  pres- 
ent few  in  number,  and  are  usually  started 
through  the  initiative  of  an  individual  teacher, 
a  normal  school,  or  a  state  board,  the  im- 
petus starting  from  without  as  in  other 
rural  reforms.  But  though  few,  these  schools 


THE  COUNTRY  LIFE  MOVEMENT  23 

have  furnished  such  convincing  demonstration 
of  the  value  of  a  good  school  to  a  community 
that  farmers  everywhere  are  already  demand- 
ing more  from  their  schools,  and  are  expecting 
them  to  serve  the  interests  of  the  whole  district. 
It  is  not  suggested  that  the  rural  school  is 
the  only  proper  agent  for  working  for  a  better 
country  life,  or  that  the  kind  of  work  done  by 
the  agricultural  colleges,  for  instance,  is  not 
both  valuable  and  necessary.  But  we  do  believe 
emphatically  that  in  its  school  every  dis- 
trict already  has  the  machinery  for  getting  over 
this  type  of  work  most  effectively,  and  that  the 
widest  possible  use  of  the  school  plant  is  one 
of  the  essential  steps  in  the  development  of 
the  new  rural  school.  Take  the  case  of  the  agri- 
cultural college  which  is  trying  to  conduct  a 
propaganda  for  improvement  in  some  specific 
practice.  At  present  its  only  method  of  reach- 
ing the  farmer  is  through  the  mail  or  by  an  oc- 
casional lecture  or  meeting  delivered  in  some 
more  or  less  central  location.  Pamphlets  and 
lectures  are  too  apt  to  be  effective  only  with  the 
people  who  are  already  converted  to  the  point 
of  view  they  present,  or  who  are  at  least  in  a 
questioning  frame  of  mind.  Consequently  the 
college  works  long  and  hard  for  very  meager 
results.  No  campaign  necessarily  so  scattered 


24  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

and  working  at  such  long  distance,  can  be  as 
effective  as  one  conducted  on  the  spot  through 
an  agent  already  in  intimate  touch  with  a  whole 
community.  Working  through  the  school,  the 
college  could  without  more  work  reach  every 
farm  in  the  neighborhood.  The  school  district 
offers  an  organization  unit  small  enough  to 
reach  everyone  at  any  time ;  the  school  building 
furnishes  the  central  meeting  place  and  the  com- 
munity work  in  turn  increases  the  value  and 
reality  of  the  children's  school  life.  Every  dis- 
trict school  is  already  functioning  as  a  vital 
part  of  the  community  life,  and  anything  there- 
fore which,  is  really  a  part  of  the  school  must 
function  again  in  the  community. 

The  use  of  the  school  plant  as  a  local  clearing 
house  must,  of  course,  strongly  influence  the 
character  of  the  school  itself.  However  desir- 
able such  use  might  be  for  the  adults  of  the 
community,  it  is,  of  course,  legitimate  only  if 
it  also  contributes  to  the  realization  of  the  edu- 
cational ideals  for  which  the  school  is  working. 
The  school  is  first  for  the  children  of  the  com- 
munity; to  teach  them  so  that  they  may  make 
for  themselves  a  happy  and  useful  life  in  what- 
ever walk  of  life  they  choose.  Making  the 
school  a  vital  and  necessary  part  of  the  social 
and  economic  life  of  its  district  cannot  fail, 


THE  COUNTRY  LIFE  MOVEMENT  25 

however,  to  make  that  school  a  better  place  in 
which  to  train  children  to  be  healthy,  happy 
children  and  responsible,  efficient  citizens.  And 
so  long  as  social  and  economic  conditions  in  our 
rural  districts  remain  as  they  are  it  will  be  al- 
most impossible,  without  making  such  use  of 
the  school,  to  bring  up  a  new  generation  of 
farmers  who  shall  not  live  in  the  same  desolate 
and  half-hearted  way  as  their  parents. 


CHAPTER  n 

THE  LITTLE  RED  SCHOOL  HOUSE  TODAY 

EVERYONE  who  has  worked  to  improve  our 
schools  has  had  to  meet  the  argument  that  since 
the  schools  were  good  enough  for  our  fathers 
it  is  only  putting  on  airs  to  talk  of  changing 
them  for  our  children.  In  the  country  this  tra- 
dition has  become  symbolized  by  "The  Little 
Red  School  House."  A  belief  in  its  almost 
magic  efficacy  offers  a  real  stumbling  block  to 
the  teacher  in  her  efforts  to  have  her  school  keep 
pace  with  the  changes  in  the  world  around  it. 
America  is  justly  proud  of  this  far-famed  insti- 
tution, but  we  are  apt  to  forget  that  the  ground 
for  our  pride  is  the  fact  that  under  extremely 
difficult  pioneer  conditions  we  still  kept  some 
kind  of  school,  not  that  this  school  was  so  good 
in  itself.  It  is  true  that  many  of  our  greatest 
men  got  most  of  their  education  in  the  district 
school,  but  it  is  very  unlikely  that  the  school 
was  the  cause  of  their  greatness.  These  men 
would  undoubtedly  have  achieved  distinction 
if  they  had  never  been  to  school  at  all,  or  even 

26 


THE  LITTLE  RED  SCHOOL  HOUSE    27 

if  they  had  been  to  the  most  modern  and  model 
of  schools.  The  little  red  school  house  did  not 
have  a  rule  for  teaching  that  guaranteed  suc- 
cess :  Only  stop  to  think  of  the  thousands  of  its 
children  for  whom  its  opportunities  and  train- 
ing were  inadequate  and  that  superstition  van- 
ishes. Its  claim  to  our  pride  and  affection  lies 
in  the  fact  that  in  spite  of  privation  and  the  al- 
most overwhelming  hardships  of  isolation,  cold 
winters,  bad  roads  and  the  necessity  of  keeping 
children  at  home  for  farm  work,  it  kept  the 
fires  of  learning  and  ambition  burning.  Our 
forefathers  believed  in  an  equal  opportunity  for 
all  and  part  of  that  opportunity  was  the 
tradition  of  culture  and  a  belief  in  educa- 
tion. The  first  one-room  schools  kept  that 
tradition  alive  and  tried  to  put  the  belief  into 
practice. 

The  question  that  we  must  ask  of  our 
schools,  both  in  the  city  and  in  the  country,  is 
not  whether  they,  in  the  face  of  great  diffi- 
culties, did  what  they  could  for  our  grandfath- 
ers, but  are  they  to-day  doing  all  that  we  want 
done  for  our  children.  We  must  not  ask  if  they 
have  produced  great  men,  but  if  they  help  the 
commonest  man  to  use  his  meager  opportunities 
and  to  strive  for  a  steady  purpose.  That  the 
country  school  should  do  this  is  imperative,  for 


28  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOB  OLD 

on  it  rests  the  burden  of  the  prosperity  of  our 
whole  country.  "Without  a  body  of  contented, 
enlightened  and  ambitious  farmers,  keeping 
their  farms  from  generation  to  generation,  agri- 
culture cannot  flourish  and  as  it  flourishes  the 
whole  nation  prospers.  There  are  great  regions 
of  the  country  where  the  farmers'  ignorance 
extends  to  their  own  jobs  and  their  only  ambi- 
tion is  for  a  change.  To  anyone  knowing  these 
conditions  the  school  offers  the  only  sure  and 
practical  way  of  changing  this.  Good  schools 
for  the  country  are  not  simply  an  inspiring 
ideal  for  the  teacher  to  hold  before  herself,  they 
are  an  economic  necessity  for  the  city  dweller 
as  well  as  for  the  farmer.  In  the  past  this 
country  has  offered  such  vast  stretches  of  fer- 
tile land  that  we  could  prosper  with  poor  farm- 
ing. When  the  old  land  was  exhausted  the  shift- 
less, ignorant  farmer  could  make  a  living  by 
moving  to  new  ground.  There  is  at  present 
practically  no  more  new  land  to  exploit,  and 
continued  exploitation  of  the  old  means  certain 
and  swift  ruin  to  the  farmer  with  consequent 
hardship  to  the  country  at  large.  All  over  the 
country  we  are  successfully  attempting  to  meet 
the  tremendous  responsibility  resting  on  the 
country  school.  But  there  are  still  many  thou- 
sands of  one-room  schools  which  would  seem 


THE  LITTLE  RED  SCHOOL  HOUSE    29 

impossible  nightmares  to  the  teacher  in  the  or- 
dinary town  or  city  school. 

—i 

In  1915  it  was  estimated  that  there  were 
about  200,000  one-room  schools  in  the  United 
States ;  50,000  of  these  are  in  the  corn  belt  and 
10,000  are  in  the  state  of  Missouri  alone.  ^  Many 
of  these  are  doing  the  best  they  can  with  the 
conditions  which  they  find  around  them.  This 
book  hopes  to  show  how  that  best  was  reached 
in  one  district  and  how  it  is  a  practical  possibil- 
ity for  them  all.  There  are,  however,  thousands 
of  others  that  let  their  resources  for  a  good 
school  lie  entirely  unexplored.  When  we  stop 
to  examine  the  special  problems  and  difficulties 
of  the  rural  school  it  does  not  seem  strange  that 
this  should  be  so.  Each  one  of  the  200,000  or 
more  one-room  schools  in  the  country  is  a  com- 
plete unit  in  itself,  isolated  in  position  and  or- 
ganization, and  employing  one  teacher  on  whom 
falls  the  entire  responsibility  for  the  education 
of  the  district. 

Suppose  a  normal  school  pupil  decides  to 
specialize  in  rural  education,  because  she  be- 
lieves in  the  possibilities  of  country  life.  She 
spends  part  of  two  years  studying  the  problems 
of  the  country  school,  the  best  curriculum  for  it, 
and  special  methods  of  teaching;  in  a  progres- 
sive normal  school  she  will  learn  something  of 


30  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOB  OLD 

rural  economics  and  sociology.  Equipped  with 
a  diploma  and  a  fund  of  hopes  and  ideals  she 
looks  for  a  school.  Immediately  she  meets  her 
first  disappointment ;  she  is  young  and  inexperi- 
enced, therefore  the  cautious  local  school  board 
decides  she  should  be  cheap.  They  offer  her 
perhaps  as  low  a  salary  as  $35.00  a  month  for 
the  eight  months  of  school.  If  she  is  determined 
and  has  good  recommendations  from  her  col- 
lege she  may  find  a  school  willing  to  pay  even 
$50.00  a  month.  She  has  committed  herself  to 
a  year  of  comparative  privation  and  has  learned 
that  her  chances  for  future  prosperity  are  not 
very  bright ;  if  she  is  entirely  dependent  on  her 
own  earnings  she  probably  decides  that  one  year 
of  this  is  all  she  can  afford. 

The  second  discouragement  comes  when  the 
teacher  begins  to  look  about  for  a  place  to  live. 
Perhaps  she  thinks  that  boarding  in  the  homes 
of  her  pupils  will  offer  her  an  opportunity  to 
become  quickly  and  easily  acquainted  and  learn 
her  district.  When  she  arrives  she  is  apt  to 
find  that  she  is  taken  rather  grudgingly  into 
some  family  whose  turn  it  is  to  board  the 
teacher.  Because  of  her  small  salary  she  can- 
not pay  what  her  board  is  worth  and  is  not, 
therefore,  an  especially  desirable  guest,  and 
she  must  go  to  that  house  which  has  agreed  to 


THE  LITTLE  BED  SCHOOL  HOUSE    31 

receive  her.  They  have  a  house  full  already 
and  she  must  share  her  bed-room  with  one  of 
the  girls  in  the  family.  This  makes  evening 
work  extremely  difficult  if  not  impossible ;  grad- 
ually she  succumbs  and  attempts  only  to  keep 
up  with  to-morrow's  lessons.  The  women  of  the 
household  are  overworked,  and  the  teacher,  sen- 
sitive about  her  inadequate  payment  for  board, 
is  apt,  in  order  to  quiet  her  conscience,  to  give 
up  more  time  than  she  can  afford  to  help  with 
the  housework.  Perhaps  the  only  available 
home  is  a  long  way  from  the  school  house ;  the 
teacher  must  walk  this  distance  twice  a  day  in 
all  kinds  of  weather.  This  not  only  fatigues 
her,  but  shortens  her  work  day ;  in  the  winter  to 
reach  home  by  nightfall  she  must  leave  the 
school  house  with  her  pupils.  She  may  become 
attached  to  the  family  she  is  living  with,  or  she 
may  find  herself  forced  into  the  most  intimate 
relations  with  a  family  whose  tastes  and  inter- 
ests are  entirely  different  from  hers.  In  either 
case  her  physical  surroundings  are  a  daily 
handicap  to  good  teaching,  and  there  is  no  place 
in  the  district  where  she  can  find  a  home  that 
will  offer  her  leisure  and  comfort.  Under  such 
conditions  the  teacher  cannot  look  forward  to 
a  permanent  home  in  the  community,  and  the 
natural  alternative  is  to  look  for  another  com- 


32  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

mnnity,  if  not  to  another  occupation  offering 
more  suitable  living  conditions.  Rural  teach- 
ers, in  a  great  many  cases,  have  put  up  year 
after  year  with  seemingly  impossible  living  con- 
ditions. Sometimes  teachers  are  utterly  unable 
to  find  a  single  family  in  the  district  willing  to 
accept  them  as  boarders.  The  law  provides 
that  every  child  shall  have  school  opportunities, 
but  it  sometimes  defeats  itself  by  failing  to  pro- 
vide a  living  place  for  the  teacher.  An  optimis- 
tic estimate  gives  "over  600"  teachers'  cottages 
in  the  United  States  in  1916.  Many  of  these 
are  in  districts  where  the  one-room  school  has 
already  been  replaced  by  a  consolidated  school ; 
very  few  of  the  200,000  one-room  school  teach- 
ers, therefore,  have  any  assurance  of  finding  a 
comfortable  home. 

The  conditions  the  new  teacher  finds  at  her 
school  house  are  not  much  more  encouraging. 
An  ugly  box  of  a  building,  long  in  need  of  paint, 
stands  out  bleakly  in  the  middle  of  a  lot  left  to 
the  school  because  no  one  wants  it.  No  attempt 
has  been  made  to  beautify  the  surroundings  or 
to  supply  play  apparatus  for  the  children. 
Water  is  supplied  by  a  dirty  well  or  more  often 
by  a  cistern;  it  is  not  uncommon  to  have  no 
water  at  all,  especially  if  a  neighbor's  well  is 
within  reach.  The  toilet  facilities  are  in  the 


THE  LITTLE  RED  SCHOOL  HOUSE    33 

yard,  the  doorways  unscreened,  boys  and  girls 
accommodated  in  the  same  building  or  in  out- 
houses facing  each  other,  and  these  in  a  state 
which  makes  them  almost  unsafe  for  the  use  of 
children.  Every  country  teacher  knows  the  na- 
ture of  these  conditions  and  can  describe  indi- 
vidual schools  where  they  are  unbelievably  dis- 
graceful. Years  of  neglect,  of  defilement,  and 
destruction  wrought  by  tramps  cause  conditions 
which  are  a  menace  to  the  morals  and  health  of 
all  the  pupils. 

The  outside  door  of  the  school  house  opens 
into  the  class  room;  the  children's  hats,  coats 
and  lunches  are  hung  on  pegs  around  the  wall ; 
their  rubbers  and  wet  shoes  make  puddles  on 
the  floor.  The  floor  needs  a  good  scrubbing. 
An  ancient  dictionary  lying  on  a  broken  organ 
looks  as  if  it  had  never  been  dusted.  Three  old 
atlases  are  sticking  through  the  book-case  door. 
The  plaster  has  fallen  from  the  ceiling  and  been 
brushed  into  a  pile  at  the  foot  of  the  black- 
board. The  woodwork  is  painted  an  ugly  pink 
which  has  become  blackened  by  a  leaky  stove 
pipe.  The  walls  once  papered  with  a  large  fig- 
ured design  in  brown  have  peeled  and  faded. 
The  blackboard  is  fastened  so  high  on  the  wall 
that  the  little  children  have  to  stand  on  tip-toe 
to  reach  it.  A  picture  of  Lincoln,  with  the  glass 


34  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

broken,  is  hung  high  under  the  ceiling,  and  a 
panel  of  Bible  pictures,  placed  so  high  that  the 
objects  are  almost  indistinguishable,  has  slipped 
askew.  There  are  no  other  pictures  and  no 
maps.  A  great  circular  stove  in  one  corner  of 
the  room  sends  a  rusty  pipe  to  the  opposite 
corner.  In  spite  of  a  steel  ventilating  screen 
around  the  stove,  the  temperature  varies  by  20 
degrees  in  different  parts  of  the  room  on  a  cold 
day.  Some  schools  put  the  stove  in  the  center 
of  the  room.  In  this  way  more  children  can  be 
heated,  if  not  overheated,  by  it,  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  children  near  the  windows  are  even 
colder.  Every  two  or  three  winters  one  of  the 
big  boys  will  have  his  feet  frozen  as  he  sits 
studying  at  a  remote  desk. 

The  windows  stretch  down  opposite  sides  of 
the  room  and  have  no  shades ;  the  light  streams 
in,  hurting  the  pupils'  eyes  as  they  work.  Most 
rural  schools  do  not  supply  any  janitor  service ; 
the  teacher  herself,  "with  what  help  she  can  get 
from  the  pupils,  has  to  keep  the  school  room  in 
order.  Winter  mornings  she  must  get  there  in 
time  to  start  the  fire,  she  also  must  herself  sweep 
and  dnst  if  she  wants  the  building  clean.  The 
room  is  big  and  the  children  track  in  a  lot  of 
dirt,  so  that  it  is  nearly  impossible  to  keep  the 
place  in  perfect  order  in  addition  to  her  hard 


A  GLIMPSE  OF  THE  OLD  SCHOOLROOM. — TYPICAL  OF  A  THOU- 
SAND OTHERS  OK  ITS  KIND 


THE  LITTLE  BED  SCHOOL  HOUSE    35 

day's  teaching.  As  a  result  the  room  is  only 
half  kept  at  best,  and  many  schools  are  deplor- 
ably dirty  and  untidy.  A  school  to  be  good  must 
be  clean,  but  the  country  teacher  in  order  to  be 
clean  has  to  add  so  much  housework  to  her 
teaching  that  it  is  often  impossible  for  her  to 
do  the  other  work  well. 

Not  only  are  the  surroundings  of  the  class 
room  unattractive,  but  the  school  equipment  is 
inadequate.  The  room  is  furnished  with  a 
teacher's  desk,  a  movable  chair  or  two,  and  sta- 
tionary desks  and  seats  for  the  children,  and 
often  with  only  benches  for  the  youngest  pupils. 
Sometimes  there  is  a  small  organ,  usually  a 
dictionary,  an  old  atlas,  and  an  out-of-date  map 
or  two.  In  many  states  each  district  is  free  to 
decide  how  much  of  the  pupils '  individual  equip- 
ment is  to  be  furnished.  Consequently  in  many 
schools  chalk  is  literally  the  only  school  supply 
bought  by  the  board.  Every  piece  of  paper, 
every  pencil,  every  drop  of  ink  is  brought  by  the 
individual  pupil  for  his  own  use.  This  makes  it 
difficult  to  insure  even  the  minimum  supply  of 
paper,  pencil  and  text  books  necessary  for  the 
daily  lessons,  and  causes  constant  inconvenience 
because  of  the  variety  of  material  used.  Slates 
are  still  frequently  used  by  pupils  whose  par- 
ents are  economically  inclined,  and  the  teacher 


36  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

must  struggle  against  the  dirt  and  bad  writing 
that  goes  with  them.  The  practical  impossibil- 
ity of  introducing  a  diversified  curriculum  with- 
out any  control  over  school  equipment  is 
obvious.  Many  a  teacher  has  had  to  cut  out 
drawing  lessons  or  give  up  the  use  of  systematic 
note-books  because  it  was  impossible  to  make 
all  the  parents  see  their  value  and  buy  the  neces- 
sary paper  and  books.  Districts  with  an  en- 
rollment of  from  twenty  to  thirty  children  ex- 
pect $300.00  to  $400.00  to  cover  the  entire  ex- 
penses of  the  school  for  a  year.  This  money  is 
spent  for  the  teacher's  salary,  300  or  so  bushels 
of  coal,  two  boxes  of  chalk  and  a  broom;  and 
then  harassed  directors  wonder  why  they  can- 
not find  a  good  teacher  who  will  stay  more  than 
one  year. 

*>  The  poor  school  buildings,  the  lack  of  equip- 
ment  and  the  absurdly  small  sums  voted  for 
school  taxes  can  all  be  traced  to  the  failure  of 
the  community  to  see  the  relation  between  the 
school  and  the  general  problem  of  country  life. 
Of  this  problem  every  farmer  is  more  or  less 
conscious,  and  often  his  analysis  of  its  difficul- 
ties and  their  causes  is  keen  and  just.  But  it  is 
just  beginning  to  be  recognized  that  the  school 
house  is  the  best  point  of  attack  on  these  diffi- 
culties. The  farmer  appreciates  the  value  of  a 


THE  LITTLE  BED  SCHOOL  HOUSE    37 

good  education,  but  is  apt  to  think  that  it  is  not 
a  necessity  for  the  boy  or  girl  who  stays  on  the 
farm.  They  accept  with  an  unfortunate  com- 
pliance the  idea  that  the  really  smart,  ambitious 
child  will  want  to  leave  the  farm  for  life  in  a 
town,  and  in  consequence  they  are  willing  that 
he  should  go  to  the  town  for  the  education  pre- 
paratory to  city  life.  When  they  once  realize 
that  farming  is  a  profession  requiring  an  edu- 
cation and  special  training  they  will  appreciate 
the  importance  and  possibilities  of  the  country 
schools  and  be  willing  to  spend  more  money  on 
them.  The  drawbacks  to  teaching  in  a  rural 
school  will,  of  course,  melt  away  when  school 
taxes  are  increased.  But  fanners  are  not  the 
only  class  of  people  who  must  be  awakened  to 
the  necessity  of  a  change.  In  many  states  the 
law  fixes  a  lower  tax  rate  for  the  country  schools 
than  for  the  city.  In  Missouri,  for  instance, 
the  maximum  tax  for  a  rural  school  district  is 
sixty-five  cents  on  the  hundred  dollars,  while 
urban  schools  may  vote  a  tax  as  high  as  one 
dollar  and  ten  cents  on  the  hundred.  To  one 
familiar  with  the  problem  peculiar  to  the  coun- 
try school  this  seems  a  particularly  unfortunate 
law;  the  country  school  board  needs  to  be  en- 
couraged by  every  outside  influence  to  spend 
more,  not  less,  on  its  school. 


38  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

Conditions  of  life  in  the  country  are  the  cause 
of  other  problems  which  make  the  task  of  the 
rural  teacher  harder  than  that  of  her  town 
neighbor.  The  most  constant  of  these  is,  per- 
haps, the  small  size  of  the  school.  Farms  are 
scattered ;  and  the  school  district  must  be  small 
enough  so  that  all  the  children  in  it  can  reach 
the  school  house.  The  result  is  that  one  teacher 
and  one  room  is  enough  to  take  care  of  all  the 
children  in  the  district.  But  these  children  are 
of  all  ages,  from  the  beginner  of  six  to  children 
in  their  teens  who  continue  in  the  school  in  lieu 
of  an  available  high  school.  One  assumes  at 
first  sight  that  one  teacher  should  be  able  to 
manage  20  to  30  pupils,  but  when  we  consider 
that  in  the  group  there  are  children  doing  the 
work  of  every  grade,  and  some  the  work  of 
several  different  grades,  we  realize  that  the 
teacher  must  use  special  methods.  Eecitation 
periods  must  be  very  short,  if  the  ordinary 
methods  of  grading  are  attempted,  and  they 
are  short  in  most  one-room  schools.  The 
pupils  must  be  left  for  long  periods  to  study 
lessons  from  books  without  any  help  or  direc- 
tion, except  for  the  few  seconds  that  the  teacher 
can  steal  between  recitations.  The  teacher  is 
kept  jumping  from  one  lesson  and  one  grade 
of  children  to  another  with  a  rapidity  that  is 


THE  LITTLE  BED  SCHOOL  HOUSE    39 

bound  to  make  for  mechanical  work.  The  wise 
teacher,  in  order  to  cover  the  ground  prescribed 
in  the  state  course  of  study,  will,  of  course,  com- 
bine grades  wherever  possible  and  will  cover 
two  subjects  in  one  lesson,  grammar  and  spell- 
ing or  English  and  geography,  for  instance. 
In  a  one-room  school  in  the  middle  West,  con- 
sidered quite  a  model  for  the  neighborhood, 
the  following  program  was  actually  carried  out 
every  day  by  an  experienced  teacher.  There 
were  no  second  or  fifth-grade  children,  so  there 
remained  six  grades.  Twenty-six  pupils  were 
enrolled  with  an  average  attendance  of  about 
twenty.  The  day  was  divided  into  five  and  ten- 
minute  recitation  periods,  while  each  grade 
worked  on  some  assigned  task  at  their  desks 
for  periods  of  an  hour,  and  then  recited.  School 
opened  with  a  very  brief  morning  exercise,  then 
followed  one  lesson  in  arithmetic,  three  in  read- 
ing for  different  grades  and  one  in  grammar. 
There  was  a  recess  of  twenty  minutes,  and  then 
the  teacher  "heard"  one  class  in  arithmetic,  one 
in  spelling,  three  in  succession  in  arithmetic  and 
one  in  history.  The  afternoon  session  was  di- 
vided into  two  periods  with  another  twenty- 
minute  recess.  Before  recess  the  teacher  gave 
two  lessons  in  geography,  one  in  reading,  and 
one  in  spelling,  besides  one  to  the  whole  school 


40  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOE  OLD 

in  writing.  After  recess  there  were  six  more 
lessons,  two  in  reading,  two  in  geography,  and 
two  in  spelling.  Thus  the  teacher  directed 
twenty-two  different  recitations  every  day.  She 
was  following  exactly  the  model  program  recom- 
mended to  teachers  by  the  state  superintendent 
of  schools,  except  that  her  work  was  rather 
easier  as  she  had  only  six  grades  instead  of 
eight. 

Another  solution  of  the  problem  of  the  un- 
graded room  that  is  sometimes  offered  by  state 
superintendents  is  that  of  alternating  grades. 
That  is,  one  year  the  teacher  will  give  her  pupils 
the  course  of  study  for  the  first,  third,  fifth  and 
seventh  grades,  and  the  next  the  second,  fourth, 
sixth  and  eighth.  Although  this  makes  fewer 
classes  to  teach  in  one  day,  it  is  probably  harder 
than  the  other  way,  for  if  such  a  plan  is  to  work 
at  all  the  teacher  must  put  the  pupils  through 
the  work  whether  they  are  ready  for  it  or  not. 
One  year  she  may  have  to  carry  children  through 
work  that  is  much  too  hard,  but  the  next  year 
these  same  children  will  do  the  work  of  the 
grade  below,  which  is  correspondingly  too 
easy. 

Of  course,  there  is  no  doubt  that  it  is  harder 
to  teach  a  school  room  where  there  are  pupils 
from  six  to  sixteen  than  a  class  where  all  the 


THE  LITTLE  RED  SCHOOL  HOUSE    41 

children  are  about  the  same  age.  But  there  are 
certain  advantages,  for  the  children  especially, 
when  different  ages  work  together.  The  ordi- 
nary methods  of  trying  to  impose  the  system  of 
grades  on  a  room  which  of  necessity  must  re- 
main ungraded  make  it  difficult  to  gain  these 
advantages,  and  the  hardships  of  teaching 
under  these  conditions  need  no  other  emphasis 
than  their  description.  Another  way  of  meeting 
the  problem  will  be  discussed  in  a  later  chapter. 
The  other  problems  of  organization  to  be  met 
by  the  rural  teacher,  while  not  so  different  from 
those  of  the  town  teacher,  are  harder  because 
they  must  be  faced  alone.  Every  state  has  its 
department  of  education  and  most  of  them  have 
specialists  who  devote  all  their  time  to  the  rural 
schools.  But  in  a  state  with  ten  thousand  one- 
room  schools  the  help  that  any  one  teacher  can 
get  from  these  specialists  must  be  limited  to 
pamphlets  and  circular  letters.  She  can  get 
plenty  of  advice  and  discussion  of  general  prob- 
lems and  methods,  but  there  is  no  one  with  whom 
she  can  share  the  responsibility  for  the  hundred 
and  one  questions  and  new  situations  that  must 
be  met  daily.  When  there  is  a  county  superin- 
tendent she  may  or  may  not  have  more  direct 
cooperation  in  her  work.  If  the  county  fails  to 
make  any  provision  for  their  superintendent's 


42  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOB  OLD 

traveling  expenses,  he  has  no  better  opportuni- 
ties than  the  state  officials  to  find  out  about  the 
actual  conditions  in  his  schools.  Along  with 
this  the  teacher  is  required  to  follow  a  printed 
course  of  study,  and  in  some  states  the  curricu- 
lum is  laid  down  in  the  greatest  detail.  She 
must  take  the  conditions  which  she  finds  in  her 
own  district  and  bend  them  to  fit  a  curriculum 
which  was  made  without  any  study  of  her  spe- 
cial problems  or  her  peculiar  qualifications  for 
meeting  them.  If  there  is  any  attempt  to  do 
more  than  the  most  perfunctory,  routine  teach- 
ing, it  cannot  fail  to  be  a  difficult  task.  The 
teacher  has  often  no  opportunity  whatever  to 
lighten  it  by  consultation  and  discussion  with 
other  teachers.  Books  and  pamphlets  she  can 
have,  provided  she  has  the  means  to  buy  them 
and  the  time  and  strength  to  read  them ;  and  for 
cases  of  discipline  that  become  acute  she  can 
appeal  to  her  school  board;  otherwise  her  isola- 
tion is  complete.  This  isolation  is  usually  ac- 
cepted without  comment.  But  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  rural  teacher's  burdens  would  be 
lighter  if  she  had  the  opportunities  for  discus- 
sion and  sharing  of  experiences  and  responsibil- 
ity that  are  a  part  of  the  daily  program  of  the 
teacher  in  every  school  with  more  than  one 
room.  Too  much  talking  shop  is  probably  bad 


A  DETAIL  OK  THE  SCHOOL  INTERIOR  IN  THE  OLD  DAYS 


THE  LITTLE  RED  SCHOOL  HOUSE    43 

IP 

for  persons  of  any  profession,  but  the  other  ex- 
treme, no  chance  whatever  to  talk  shop,  cannot 
fail  to  be  worse. 

Conditions  of  life  in  the  country  are  respon- 
sible for  another  group  of  problems  which  are 
peculiar  to  the  country  school.  Attendance  at 
a  country  school  is  always  more  or  less  irregu- 
lar; the  teacher  expects  it  and  must  adjust  her 
program  to  meet  it.  Pupils  must  often  walk 
long  distances  to  school ;  in  bad  weather  this  is 
impossible  for  the  little  ones,  and  a  very  severe 
winter  storm  often  closes  a  school  for  a  day  or 
so.  Many  farmers  are  quite  willing  to  drive 
their  children  to  school  in  cold  or  wet  weather, 
but  there  are  thousands  of  districts  all  over  the 
country  where  the  roads  are  so  bad  that  in  very 
wet  weather  and  during  the  spring  thaws  they 
become  impassable  for  teams.  The  result  is 
that  during  the  muddy  seasons  half  of  the  school 
living  at  the  greatest  distance  will  be  absent 
for  days  at  a  stretch.  While  the  attendance  of 
the  little  children  is  broken  up  by  the  weather, 
that  of  the  older  ones,  boys  especially,  is  almost 
equally  irregular  because  of  the  farm  work.  In 
the  ordinary  farming  country  the  older  boys  sel- 
dom start  school  for  a  month  or  so  after  it  has 
opened.  Their  work  is  essential  at  home  for 
gathering  and  storing  the  fall  crops.  There  is 


44  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

no  hired  help  available  for  this,  and  even  if 
there  were  the  average  farmer  could  not  afford 
it.  Farming  is  not  an  occupation  yielding  any 
margin  of  profit,  and  it  requires  the  efforts  of 
the  whole  family  to  make  it  a  self-supporting 
occupation.  Therefore,  at  least  under  present 
conditions  of  farming,  the  teacher  must  accept 
the  withdrawal  of  her  older  boys  for  fall  har- 
vesting and  for  another  period  of  planting  in 
the  spring.  Often  the  girls  who  are  doing  the 
same  class  work  as  these  boys  can  remain  in 
school,  and  when  the  boys  return  they  find  them- 
selves left  far  behind.  To  compensate  for  these 
conditions,  the  boy  who  stays  on  the  home  farm 
can  often  attend  school,  for  part  of  the  year, 
longer  than  the  boy  in  the  city.  In  the  middle  of 
the  winter  farm  work  is  comparatively  light  and 
can  be  managed  by  the  adults  of  the  family  dur- 
ing these  months ;  therefore,  there  is  no  reason 
why  the  boy  should  not  go  to  school  for  as  many 
winters  as  the  school  can  contribute  to  his  edu- 
tion.  While  the  girls  lose  fewer  days  of 
school  than  the  boys  because  of  the  lack  of  hired 
labor  on  the  farm,  they  usually  have  to  stay  at 
home  to  look  after  the  house  in  any  family 
emergency.  If  the  mother  is  sick  the  burden  of 
the  entire  household  falls  on  the  daughters,  and 
if  anyone  else  in  the  house  is  sick  at  least  one  of 


THE  LITTLE  RED  SCHOOL  HOUSE    45 

the  girls  is  needed  to  take  care  of  this  extra 
work. 

Fortunately  for  the  teacher  the  season  of  the 
year  when  the  rough  weather  keeps  the  little 
ones  at  home  is  the  very  time  when  the  older 
children  are  most  free  to  come  to  school ;  while 
the  pleasant  fall  and  spring  weather  brings  the 
little  ones  to  school  when  the  big  boys  are  kept 
at  home  for  farm  work.  But  even  so,  the 
teacher  must  make  constant  adjustments  and 
struggle  with  the  difficulties  of  classes  where 
some  pupils  are  advanced  and  others  much  re- 
tarded. In  1910  the  enrollment  in  the  rural! 
schools  of  the  country  was  11,100,553,  and  thej 
daily  attendance  only  about  seven  and  a  half 
million.  The  average  daily  attendance  in  the 
rural  schools  is  68  per  cent  and  in  urban  schools! 
it  is  79  per  cent.  Probably  the  number  of  tru- 
ants or  indifferent  parents  is  not  larger  in  the 
country  than  in  the  city,  so  this  difference  in 
attendance  can  be  traced  largely  to  conditions 
due  to  country  life ;  conditions  which  are  likely 
to  change  only  as  country  life  changes. 

Besides  irregular  attendance  many  schools 
are  further  hampered  by  short  terms.  That  is, 
the  difficulties  described  cause  a  great  many 
school  boards  to  fix  a  very  short  school  year. 
While  children  in  towns  and  cities  are  going  to 


46  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

school  from  eight  to  ten  months  a  year  there 
are  thousands  of  country  children  whose  school 
is  open  for  only  three  months  in  the  year.  In 
many  states  the  length  of  the  school  term  re- 
quired by  law  is  longer  for  the  city  than  for 
the  rural  school.  The  same  short-sighted  policy 
that  forces  the  rural  school  board  to  spend  less 
money  on  its  school  than  its  city  neighbor,  al- 
lows it  to  keep  that  same  school  house  closed 
for  more  months  of  the  year.  This  condition  is 
so  general  that  the  average  term  for  rural 
schools  all  over  the  country  is  forty-six  days 
shorter  than  it  is  for  the  urban  schools. 

Weather  difficulties  and  small  taxes  are  met 
in  another  way  in  some  schools,  which  although 
it  insures  a  full  school  year  cuts  into  the  value 
of  the  work  done  tremendously.  In  order  to 
avoid  the  period  of  bad  roads  in  the  late  winter, 
some  schools  have  a  divided  term.  School  starts 
in  the  fall  at  the  usual  time  and  runs  for  three 
or  four  months,  then  closes  for  the  worst  months 
of  the  winter  and  opens  again  for  two  or  three 
months  in  the  spring.  During  the  spring  term 
the  older  boys  are  usually  not  even  expected  to 
go  to  school.  The  divided  term  means  scant  in- 
terest in  the  school,  shifting  teachers,  poor  at- 
tendance, and  all  the  troubles  that  go  with  an 
inferior  school.  There  is  usually  a  new  teacher, 


THE  LITTLE  RED  SCHOOL  HOUSE    47 

not  only  every  year  in  these  schools,  but  every 
term.  This  is  partly  because  the  teacher  is 
anxious  to  find  a  school  where  she  will  not  have 
to  stop  for  a  long  vacation  just  as  she  has  her 
school  under  way,  and  partly  because  the  board 
tries  to  save  money  on  the  spring  term. 
Usually  only  the  younger  children  attend  it, 
so  the  school  is  smaller  and  a  cheaper  teacher 
suffices.  Schools  that  are  willing  to  pay  a  salary 
of  $65.00  for  the  winter  term  will  try  to  get  a 
teacher  for  $30.00  or  $40.00  for  the  spring. 
This  new  teacher  comes  in  to  finish  up  the  re- 
quired year's  work  without  knowing  the  meth- 
ods of  the  former  teacher  or  the  abilities  of  her 
pupils,  and  after  these  pupils  have  spent  two 
months  of  enforced  idleness,  shut  in  their  homes 
by  bad  weather.  It  is  no  wonder  that  the  di- 
vided term  has  come  to  stand  for  a  shiftless,  in- 
different school  district. 

Nearly  every  country  teacher  can  probably 
think  of  a  number  of  situations  peculiar  to  the 
country  which  cause  her  difficult  moments  and 
problems  that  are  not  touched  upon  here.  But 
enough  has  been  said  to  indicate  the  types  of 
problems  that  must  be  met  by  the  rural  school. 
The  cause  of  most  of  them  can  be  summed  up  by 
isolation  and  poverty.  Isolation  when  combined 
with  bad  roads  forces  a  small  school,  it  means 


48  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOE  OLD 

irregular  attendance  and  often  a  short  school 
year.  Isolation  forces  the  teacher  into  incon- 
venient living  quarters,  cuts  her  off  from  con- 
tact with  other  teachers,  and  hinders  school 
officials  in  any  efforts  to  understand  and  deal 
with  her  problems  at  first  hand.  The  traditional 
poverty  of  the  farmer,  usually  without  founda- 
tion in  fact,  serves  as  an  excuse  for  poor  build- 
ings, lack  of  upkeep,  insufficient  equipment  and 
low  salaries;  and  has  been  used  by  economic- 
ally minded  legislators  to  force  low  taxes  and 
allow  short  terms.  These  difficulties  would 
largely  disappear  if  the  schools  had  more  pu- 
pils. This  is  shown  in  the  nation-wide  move- 
ment for  consolidation. 

Wherever  several  school  districts  have  been 
able  to  combine  and  build  one  large,  modern 
building,  employ  several  teachers,  and  transport 
pupils  to  and  from  school,  many  of  the  problems 
of  isolation  and  most  of  those  of  poverty  have 
been  solved.  Some  states,  Indiana  among  them, 
are  rapidly  progressing  towards  the  time  when 
they  can  point  to  a  complete  reorganization  of 
their  rural  schools  upon  the  consolidation  basis. 
But  in  order  to  make  consolidation  possible, 
certain  conditions  are  necessary.  First,  the 
people  in  two  or  three  adjoining  districts  must 
want  it  at  the  same  time.  Until  the  people  who 


THE  LITTLE  RED  SCHOOL  HOUSE    49 

are  sending  their  children  to  school  realize  the 
necessity  for  improving  school  conditions  and 
see  their  way  to  becoming  part  of  a  consoli- 
dated district,  the  one-room  school  will  remain. 
But  even  in  districts  where  the  farmers  have 
outgrown  the  tradition  of  extreme  economy  and 
of  letting  well  enough  alone,  it  is  not  always 
possible  to  combine  school  districts.  In  the 
sparsely  populated  portions  of  the  country  a 
small  one-room  school  can  take  care  of  all  the 
children  in  a  number  of  square  miles ;  if  the  size 
of  this  district  was  increased  two  or  three  times, 
distances  would  be  so  great  that  it  would  be  im- 
possible for  many  children  to  go  to  school  at  all, 
even  with  school  transportation.  But  in  most 
regions  where  population  is  more  or  less  scat- 
tered the  roads  are  so  bad  that  transportation 
is  impossible.  Like  good  schools,  good  roads 
come  only  to  fairly  populous  and  prosperous 
regions,  and  without  good  roads  consolidation 
is  impossible.  It  may  seem  an  exaggeration  to 
say  that  there  are  any  considerable  portions  of 
the  country  where  roads  are  so  bad  that  a  ride 
of  five  or  six  miles  twice  a  day  settles  the  fate 
of  a  good  school.  But  the  mud  road  is  still  the 
usual  thing  in  this  country,  and  clay  is  more 
common  than  sandy  soil.  A  dirt  road  and  a 
clay  soil  means  that  during  wet  weather  and 


50  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

winter  thaws,  roads  become  bottomless,  wheels 
sink  in  to  the  hubs,  horses  flounder  knee-deep, 
unable  to  pull  anything  but  the  lightest  wagons, 
and  even  these  stick  fast  in  hollows.  Automo- 
biles are,  of  course,  useless  on  such  roads.  But 
as  roads  improve  and  remote  regions  become 
more  thickly  settled,  consolidation  will  spread. 
This  is  especially  true  if  in  the  meanwhile  teach- 
ers and  farmers  turn  their  attention  to  the  im- 
provement of  the  existing  one-room  schools. 
There  are  thousands  of  rural  districts  where 
consolidation  cannot  come  for  a  very  long  time, 
but  a  great  many  of  the  difficulties  described 
can  be  overcome  in  the  very  buildings  where 
they  are  now  most  exaggerated.  Forcing  con- 
solidation on  unwilling  districts  or  under  im- 
possible conditions  is  no  more  successful  than 
other  attempts  at  coercion.  It  has  been  tried 
in  some  places  and  the  results  have  not  justified 
it.  Some  school  districts  voted  for  consolida- 
tion and  then  refused  to  vote  the  money  neces- 
sary to  build  the  new  building  and  run  the 
school. 

The  first  step  towards  the  improvement  of 
rural  education  is  to  make  the  widest  possible 
development  of  the  one-room  school.  Consoli- 
dation will  follow  naturally  in  the  districts 
where  it  is  practical.  Consolidation  has  of  late 


PORTER         SCHOOL 

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MAP    OF    THE    DlSTRKT    INDICATING    THE     SCATTERED     POPU- 
LATION 


THE  LITTLE  BED  SCHOOL  HOUSE    51 

received  more  attention  than  any  other  phase 
of  the  rural  school  question.  But  this  book  is 
to  concern  itself  with  what  can  be  done  now  in 
the  200,000  one-room  schools  of  the  country,  not 
only  to  minimize  the  problems  already  reviewed, 
but  to  vitalize  school  life  and  teach  the  coming 
generation  to  make  the  most  of  their  opportuni- 
ties as  farmers. 

Mrs.  Harvey 's  school  at  Kirksville,  Missouri, 
has  done  this  successfully  for  five  years.  Shei 
has  furnished  a  demonstration  of  what  a  small, 
rundown  school  in  a  divided  district  can  do  to 
unite  and  stimulate  the  whole  community  by  giv- 
ing the  children  the  kind  of  education  they  need. 
Her  work  should  prove  especially  helpful  to 
rural  teachers  because  it  has  been  carried  on 
under  such  typical  conditions  as  to  inspire 
every  teacher  with  the  hope  of  accomplishing 
the  same  results  without  resources  or  equip- 
ment beyond  those  given  by  any  school  board. 


CHAPTER  in 

HOW   PORTER   FOUND   A   SOLUTION   OF   THE   SCHOOL 
PROBLEM 

r 

THE  Porter  School  is  in  the  northern  part  of 

Missouri,  in  a  district  that  lies  next  to  the  city 
of  Kirksville.  A  few  years  ago  there  was  noth- 
ing to  distinguish  it  from  hundreds  of  other  one- 
room  schools  throughout  the  state.  To-day  the 
school  is  a  model  not  only  for  the  whole  state, 
but  for  rural  teachers  all  over  the  country ;  and 
it  is  a  model  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word,  for 
what  has  been  accomplished  has  been  done  with- 
out any  greater  material  resources  than  are  at 
the  disposal  of  any  school  district.  The  school 
is  the  work  of  Mrs.  Harvey ;  but  her  work  would 
never  have  been  possible  if  the  parents  of  the 
district  had  not  felt  the  need  of  a  new  school, 
and  had  not  been  willing  to  work  hard  them- 
selves to  improve  conditions. 

The  school  house  is  an  oblong,  one-room 
building,  with  an  acre  of  school  yard,  situated  in 
the  exact  center  of  the  nine  square  miles  of  the 
district.  The  site  was  about  the  most  unattrac- 
tive in  the  district;  there  was  not  a  tree  in  the 

53 


HOW  PORTER  FOUND  A  SOLUTION  53 

yard  nor  anywhere  in  the  neighborhood.  But 
the  building  had  to  be  there  so  that  no  portion 
of  the  district  should  have  the  advantage  over 
another  in  the  matter  of  distance.  The  house 
was  built  twenty  years  ago  at  a  total  cost  of 
$600.00Land.  until  1912.  had  been  left  just  as  it 
was  finished  at  that  time.  There  was  no  base- 
ment and  no  foundation,  clap-boarding  was  off 
in  many  places,  the  paint  had  peeled  and  half 
the  shutters  were  down.  The  well  was  only 
half  covered,  the  outbuildings  were  in  dreadful 
shape;  signs  of  constant  occupation  by  tramps 
were  everywhere.  Inside,  the  room  was  in  no 
better  condition;  the  plaster  was  off  the  walls 
in  many  places,  a  hideous  figured  brown  paper 
was  discolored  and  flapping.  There  were  no 
shades  at  the  windows  and  many  lights  were 
broken.  The  blackboards  were  too  high  for  the 
little  children  to  reach;  there  were  no  pictures 
and  no  books.  A  huge  stove  in  the  middle  made 
much  dirt  and  only  half  heated  the  room.  Chil- 
dren occasionally  froze  their  feet  sitting  at  their 
desks,  although  the  stove  was  red-hot. 

Along  the  edge  of  the  Porter  district  ran  a 
railroad  and  a  state  road,  both  highways  for 
tramps.  For  years  they  used  the  school  house 
as  their  hotel,  abusing  the  place  in  every  pos- 
sible way,  and  making  it  unsafe  for  the  teacher 


54  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

to  go  alone  to  the  building  in  the  morning.  In 
fact,  the  tramps  made  impossible  any  attempt 
to  keep  the  place  clean,  attractive  and  homelike. 
It  was  no  use  to  repair  or  stock  the  place,  as  the 
work  would  be  undone  over  night.  This  situ- 
ation had  been  accepted  for  so  long  that  the 
whole  community  honestly  believed  that  any  at- 
tempt to  lock  doors  or  keep  the  tramps  out 
would  result  in  barn  burnings  or  some  other 
form  of  outrage.  The  district  was  infested  with 
tramps  who,  so  long  as  they  were  allowed  to  use 
the  school  house  unhampered,  left  the  farm- 
houses alone. 

The  neglect  that  was  shown  on  the  school 
premises  was  also  visible  in  the  attitude  of  most 
of  the  community  towards  the  school.  They 
realized  that  conditions  were  bad,  so  bad  that 
no  one  sent  his  children  there  if  he  could  make 
any  other  arrangement.  Lack  of  interest, 
trouble  over  the  school,  and  neighborhood  hard- 
feeling  were  becoming  a  tradition,  unfortunate 
but  unavoidable.  There  had  been  a  violent 
quarrel  at  the  time  the  building  was  erected  and 
although  the  school  had  enjoyed  periods  of  suc- 
cess and  prosperity  since,  its  proximity  to  the 
city  was  supposed  to  make  it  inevitably  a  sec- 
ond-rate and  makeshift  affair.  Its  general 
standing  is  indicated  by  this  notice,  which  at 


HOW  PORTER  FOUND  A  SOLUTION  55 

one  time  was  nailed  to  the  door  by  the  school 
board : 

"Rules  By  which  to 
Govern  or  controle  Lewellen 

School  in  Dis  No — 3 
Prompt  Obediance 

by  all.    there  shall 
be  no  fighting  swearing 
quarreling  or  vulgar  language 

on  the  play  ground 
or  on  the  Road  to  or  from 
School" 

Signed  by  the  Board. 

For  some  time  before  the  school  was  reorgan- 
ized it  had  been  going  steadily  downhill,  until 
there  were  only  about  seven  children  in  attend- 
ance. The  school  had  a  divided  term,  and  a 
new  teacher  each  term,  so  that  the  children 
never  had  the  same  teacher  more  than  five  suc- 
cessive months.  It  had  a  very  low  rating  in  the 
county  and  was  thought  a  hopeless  place  to  look 
for  improvement.  There  was  no  commun- 
ity interest  in  keeping  it  going,  very  few  people 
went  to  school  meetings,  sometimes  too  few  to 
elect  a  new  board,  and  once  only  the  board  it- 
self. Year  after  year  a  handful  of  conscientious 


56  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

men  served  on  the  board  and  kept  some  kind  of 
school  open. 

The  resources  of  the  district  were  sufficient 

.i      to  enable  it  to  have  a  good  school,  as  it  has  since 

proved.    There  are  nine  square  miles  of  fertile 

-<t 

land  and  about  thirty  families  in  the  district. 
The  land  is  worth  about  $100.00  per  acre.  The 
farms  are  from  40  to  800  acres  in  size,  with  an 
.assessed  valuation  for  the  whole  district  of 
over  one  hundred  thousand  dollars.  Corn  is 
the  chief  crop,  and  there  are  several  dairy 
farms,  owning  prize  stock.  Most  of  the  farms 
are  less  than  two  hundred  acres  in  size,  and  a 
number  are  farmed  by  tenants,  but  all  of  them 
can  produce  a  comfortable  living  for  a  family, 
and  all  are  occupied  by  hard-working,  respec- 
table people.  But  the  Porter  district  sometimes 
voted  a  levy  as  low  as  twenty  cents,  and  often 
spent  only  three  or  four  hundred  dollars  on  its 
school  for  the  whole  year.  The  salary  paid  the 
teacher  varied  from  twenty-five  to  fifty  dollars 
a  month,  according  to  her  experience  and  the 
difficulty  in  securing  her.  The  basis  of  selection 
was  too  often  the  minimum  salary  demanded. 
This  situation  was  no  doubt  partly  due  to  the 
fact  that  Porter  was  swallowed  up  by  its  larger 
neighbor,  Kirksville.  Just  as  the  tramps  passed 
through  on  their  way  to  Kirksville,  so  the  whole 


HOW  PORTER  FOUND  A  SOLUTION  57 

community  life  was  drawn  to  the  bigger  town. 
All  roads  led  there;  every  family  had  to  go 
there  from  time  to  time  to  buy  and  sell,  and 
many  had  friends  and  relatives  there.  There 
are  five  country  churches  in  or  near  Porter  dis- 
trict, yet  several  families  went  to  town  to 
church.  The  town  offered  a  ready-developed 
community  spirit  as  well  as  facilities  for  social 
life  and  a  variety  of  amusement  which  could 
only  be  created  in  the  country  by  much  effort 
and  sacrifice.  But  an  even  more  disorganizing 
factor  was  its  offer  of  good  schools  within  reach 
of  even  the  little  children  in  many  of  the  Porter 
homes.  Besides  the  high  school,  Kirksville  has 
a  big  state  normal  school.  Farmers  are  only 
too  ready  to  assume  that  any  child  with  a  taste 
for  study,  in  fact  with  ambition  of  any  sort,  will 
leave  the  country  and  go  to  the  town  to  realize 
his  ambitions.  To  every  child  in  Porter  dis- 
trict the  normal  school  offered  a  chance  to  get 
the  education  denied  him  at  home.  It  came  to 
be  assumed  that  every  child,  if  he  could,  would 
leave  Porter  and  go  in  town  to  school.  More- 
over, the  normal  school  conducted  a  model  rural 
school  on  its  grounds  to  give  practice  to 
teachers  training  for  rural  work,  and  to  demon- 
strate the  possibilities  of  the  one-room  school. 
In  order  to  have  country  pupils  for  this  school 


58  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

a  wagon  route  was  established  to  bring  them  in. 
The  road  chosen  for  this  was  the  state  road  run- 
ning through  Porter^.  With  the  advantages  of 
the  free  transportation,  free  text-books  and  sup- 
plies, a  model  school  building  and  expert  teach- 
ing, every  family  that  lived  on  or  near  the  road 
naturally  sent  its  children  to  the  city  school. 
This  left  only  about  half  of  the  normal  school 
population  for  the  district,  and  less  than  half 
of  the  normal  interest.  Parents  whose  children 
were  so  well  taken  care  of  in  town  could  not  be 
expected  to  take  an  active  or  responsible  inter- 
est in  the  district  school,  while  those  parents 
who  lived  too  far  from  the  main  road  to  be  able 
to  send  their  children  to  town  were  discouraged 
by  the  difficulties  of  their  situation  and  by  the 
unfavorable  comparison  of  their  school  with" 
those  in  town. 

There  were  two  families,  however,  who  had 
grown  up  with  the  neighborhood  and  who  had 
enough  local  pride  and  influence  to  fight  this 
situation.  Before  the  model  school  was  started 
they  had  worked  hard  to  make  the  school  a  fit 
place  for  their  children.  They  served  on  the 
school  board,  "boarded"  the  teacher,  contribu- 
ted extra  school  supplies,  transported  their 
own  and  neighboring  children  to  and  from 
school  in  bad  weather;  they  had  done  every- 


HOW  PORTER  FOUNI}  A  SOLUTION    59 

thing  in  their  power  to  hold  the  community  and 
the  homes  together  by  tryipg  to  build  up  a  good 
community  school.  One  oL  these  families  living 
on  the  state  road  reluctantly  took  advantage 
of  the  model  school  wagon  in  order  to  give  their 
children  the  best  education  available;  and  yet 
saw  that  by  doing  so  they  were  surely  breaking 
up  their  home  and  disqualifying  their  boys  for 
farm  life.  The  mother  said  that  she  could  see 
them  day  by  day  absorbing  town  interests, 
town  habits  and  town  ambitions,  until  she  knew 
that  "every  day  they  went  they  were  getting 
farther  away  from  the  farm."  The  other  fam- 
ily lived  on  the  other  side  of  the  district  and 
their  children  were  nearly  grown  up.  Realiz- 
ing keenly  the  increasing  division  and  weakness 
due  to  the  rundown  school,  they  fought  hard  to 
try  to  force  the  model  school  wagon  to  change 
its  route,  knowing  that  there  would  be  no  im- 
provement in  the  Porter  School  until  the  whole 
district  was  dependent  on  it.  Moreover,  one  of 
the  daughters  of  this  family  came  home  from 
the  Kirksville  normal  school  and  taught  at  Por- 
ter. The  family  took  the  responsibility  for  pro- 
tecting the  teachers  from  the  tramps,  and  time 
and  again  cleaned  the  school  house. 

Meanwhile  Mrs.  Marie  Turner  Harvey,  a  suc- 
cessful and  experienced  country  teacher,  had 


60  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

had  charge  of  the  model  school  that  was  draw- 
ing so  disastrously  on  the  Porter  district  for 
its  pupils.  In  spite  of  her  success  in  Kirks- 
ville  she  was  not  altogether  satisfied  with  her 
experiment  there.  For,  as  she  came  to  know 
her  pupils  and  their  parents,  she  began  to  real- 
ize the  injury  that  the  school  was  doing  to  one 
rural  district  in  its  attempt  to  furnish  a  model 
for  them  all.  That  is,  she,  too,  saw  her  older 
pupils  gradually  drifting  in  interest  and  senti- 
ment away  from  their  homes  and  farm  life.  On 
the  other  hand,  she  was  not  teaching  a  rural 
school,  and  the  model  school,  therefore,  could 
not  offer  a  real  demonstration  of  the  possibili- 
ties of  a  one-room  country  school.  Country 
teachers  visited  her  school,  praised  it,  and  then 
said  it  ought  to  be  comparatively  easy  for  any 
teacher  to  have  a  good  school  in  such  a  build- 
ing, with  unlimited  equipment  and  with  the 
pupils  brought  comfortably  to  school  in  all  kinds 
of  weather.  The  school  furnished  a  good  dem- 
onstration of  methods  suited  to  rural  life  under 
ideal  school  conditions,  but  as  these  conditions 
never  existed  in  the  Missouri  one-room  schools, 
it  offered  little  tangible  help  to  the  teacher  who 
had  nothing  more  to  work  with  than  the  state 
course  of  study,  a  blackboard,  and  a  room  full 
of  children. 


HOW  PORTER  FOUND  A  SOLUTION  61 

Mrs.  Harvey,  however,  looked  for  results 
more  from  the  spirit  than  from  the  machinery 
of  her  teaching  and  believed  that,  holding  to 
the  same  general  principles,  she  could  get  the 
same  pedagogical  results  in  even  the  most 
poorly  equipped  school.  And  she  was  con- 
vinced that  only  in  the  country  itself  could  she 
get  the  social  results  that  ought  to  be  part  of 
any  country  school.  She  was  giving  her  pupils 
a  good  working  knowledge  of  all  sorts  of  use- 
ful things,  but  she  was  forced  to  disregard  the 
home  environment  of  the  children.  She  had  a 
school  which  was  not  related  to  the  actual  lives 
of  her  pupils,  nor  adjusted  to  their  particular 
needs,  but  was  supposed  to  meet  the  needs  of 
country  life  in  general,  which  is  quite  unlike  any 
particular  country  life.  The  failure  of  the  nor- 
mal and  model  schools  to  give  the  teachers 
what  they  needed  taught  her  the  extent  of  the 
need,  and  developed  definite  ideas  of  the  way 
this  help  might  be  effectively  given. 

Mrs.  Harvey  made  it  her  business  to  become 
acquainted  with  the  parents  of  her  pupils,  and 
with  the  conditions  in  the  community.  Most  of 
her  pupils  came  from  the  Porter  School  district. 
While  Mrs.  Harvey  was  getting  acquainted  with 
the  families  of  the  district,  they  had  come  to 
know  her  and  to  appreciate  her  as  a  teacher. 


62 

In  the  summer  of  1912  the  directors  of  the 
school  asked  Mrs.  Harvey  to  come  to  Porter  to 
teach.  She  was  promised  a  free  hand  to  de- 
velop the  school  and  the  board  agreed  that  she 
would  need  three  years  in  which  to  reorganize 
and  demonstrate  the  practicability  of  her  ideal 
of  a  socialized  rural  school  community.  Mrs. 
Harvey  accepted  the  offer  on  the  conditions  that 
a  house  where  she  could  make  her  home  the  year 
round  be  found  for  her  in  the  community,  and 
that  she  should  have  the  active  cooperation  of 
the  families  who  had  worked  for  a  better  school. 
At  this  time  Mrs.  Harvey  believed  that  her 
work  would  be  done  when  the  reorganization  of 
the  school  was  completed  and  when  she  had 
successfully  demonstrated  that  a  one-room 
school  with  no  equipment  could  be  made  to  meet 
the  educational  needs  of  a  farm  community. 
Three  years,  she  thought,  ought  to  offer  suf- 
ficient time  in  which  to  work  out  methods  to 
overcome  most  of  the  difficulties  prevailing  in 
one-room  schools.  Mrs.  Harvey  has  been  teach- 
ing in  the  Porter  School  for  six  years  now,  and, 
although  she  has  accomplished  even  more  than 
she  dreamed  of  at  first,  she  has  not  yet  devel- 
oped the  school  to  the  point  where  she  thinks 
it  is  functioning  to  its  fullest  extent  for  the 
community  welfare. 


HOW  PORTER  FOUND  A  SOLUTION  63 

Mrs.  Harvey  had  grown  up  in  the  country 
and  had  taught  in  rural  schools;  she  knew  the 
conditions  under  which  the  teacher  usually  has 
to  live  and  work ;  she  knew  the  apathy  and  stag- 
nation of  farm  life,  knew  its  indifference  to 
good  schools,  and  saw  that  until  the  schools 
were  good  there  would  never  be  any  really  ef- 
fective weapon  for  changing  conditions.  The 
first  step  in  the  reorganization  of  the  school 
must  be  a  new  attitude  of  the  community  to- 
wards the  teacher  and  of  the  teacher  towards 
her  school.  No  teacher  could  help  to  bring  up 
children  with  a  love  of  country  life,  belief  in 
the  future  of  farming,  and  the  enthusiasm  and 
initiative  necessary  to  enable  them  to  develop 
their  environment,  when  she  herself  came  to  the 
school  as  a  temporary  makeshift.  The  ma- 
jority of  rural  teachers  are  prevented  by  their 
living  conditions  from  settling  permanently  in 
one  community  or  identifying  themselves  with 
the  local  life  and  interests.  Communities  look 
upon  their  teachers  as  outsiders,  usually  find 
their  care  a  burden,  and  are  apt  to  take  a  some- 
what patronizing  attitude  towards  them  be- 
cause of  their  small  salaries.  Mrs.  Harvey 
believed  that  the  teacher  in  a  community  should 
be  as  much  a  part  of  that  community  as  any 
other  person  living  in  it.  Therefore  she  insisted 


64  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

upon  a  house  of  her  own.  As  a  mere  boarder 
in  the  house  of  some  family,  her  work  would 
not  have  been  possible,  nor  if  she  had  made  the 
long  daily  trip  to  the  school  from  her  home  in 
town.  All  the  agencies  that  are  working  for 
improved  rural  schools  are  agreed  upon  the 
necessity  of  supplying  proper  living  conditions 
for  the  teachers. 

Porter  community  and  Mrs.  Harvey  were 
agreed  in  regarding  her  work  there  as  an  ex- 
periment, and  there  was  more  than  one  family 
that  prophesied  that  the  experiment  would  fail 
long  before  the  three  years  were  up.  They 
argued  that  Porter  had  always  had  a  poor  and 
struggling  school,  that  it  would  be  useless  to 
try  to  change,  that  children  who  wanted  fancy 
schooling  had  better  go  to  Kirksville  anyway 
since  it  would  cost  them  less,  and  that  the  school 
had  been  good  enough  for  them,  so  they  guessed 
it  would  be  good  enough  for  the  children.  They 
thought  it  inappropriate  that  a  high-salaried 
teacher  from  a  normal  college  should  give  up 
her  position  for  one  in  the  country  paying  only 
fifty  dollars  a  month,  and  felt  that  such  a  course 
must  have  some  ulterior  motive.  The  new 
teacher  and  the  school  board  who  had  hired  her 
were  accused  of  every  conceivable  motive,  from 
a  desire  to  try  "crazy,  new-fangled"  methods 


HOW  PORTER  FOUND  A  SOLUTION  65 

to  the  really  serious  crime  of  a  plot  to  defraud 
a  district  in  the  habit  of  spending  $350.00  a  year 
on  its  school,  of  vast  sums  of  school  taxes.  To 
many  people  the  idea  that  anyone  could  give 
up  town  life  and  good  pay  for  fifty  dollars  a 
month  and  a  tumble-down  shack,  because  of  be- 
lief in  an  idea,  was  unthinkable.  They  opposed 
her  coming  violently  not  because  they  had  any 
reason  against  it  or  anything  else  to  propose, 
but  merely  because  such  things  are  not  done. 
That  there  must  be  a  "nigger  in  the  woodpile" 
somewhere  they  were  convinced,  and  it  is  only 
within  the  past  year  or  so  that  the  bitterest  op- 
ponents have  ceased  to  look  for  something  ir- 
regular in  the  conduct  of  the  school  to  satisfy 
their  idea  of  her  motive  in  coming,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  serve  as  an  excuse  for  ridding 
them  of  something  they  did  not  understand. 

But  some  families  had  a  very  definite  con- 
ception of  why  Mrs.  Harvey  came  to  Porter, 
and  of  what  they  wanted  her  to  accomplish  for 
them.  Looking  at  it  merely  as  a  matter  of  con- 
venience, her  coming  would  be  a  great  help  to 
the  whole  community.  The  people  on  the  state 
road  could  send  their  children  to  the  local  school 
instead  of  having  them  take  the  long  ride  into 
town,  and  still  feel  that  they  were  safe.  The 
parents  who  had  sent  their  children  to  Porter 


66  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

before  were,  of  course,  gainers  in  every  way; 
the  increased  size  of  the  school  was  enough  to 
convert  most  doubters.  The  nearness  of  Porter 
to  the  state  normal  college  and  the  use  of  the 
model  school  by  half  the  community  had  given 
the  farmers  of  Porter  an  unusual  understand- 
ing and  appreciation  of  good  teaching.  They 
knew  that  in  Mrs.  Harvey  they  were  getting  an 
expert  and  experienced  teacher,  where  they  had 
had  chiefly  untrained  girls  before.  They  knew 
that  Mrs.  Harvey  would  not  long  submit  to  the 
conditions  that  had  prevailed  in  the  school 
house ;  that  some  method  would  have  to  be  found 
to  repair  the  building  in  order  to  keep  it 
clean  and  warm,  and  that  the  tramp  nuis- 
ance would  have  to  be  met.  They  also  looked 
forward  to  having  the  same  teacher  for  three 
years. 

All  these  were  reasons  enough  for  most  fami- 
lies to  welcome  Mrs.  Harvey  to  Porter.  But 
there  was  a  group  to  whom  these  things,  how- 
ever desirable,  were  not  the  most  important. 
These  were  the  leaders  who  had  first  suggested 
that  Mrs.  Harvey  come  to  Porter.  They  were 
the  farmers  who  liked  country  life,  who  believed 
that  the  country  offers  advantages  never  to  be 
found  in  the  city;  that  farming  is  a  dignified 
and  interesting  profession,  giving  scope  to  am- 


- 


HOW  PORTER  FOUND  A  SOLUTION  67 

bition,  and  demanding  skill  and  intelligence. 
They  saw  all  the  young  people  of  high  school 
age  moving  away  from  the  district ;  a  neighbor- 
hood divided  against  itself,  overworked,  and 
lacking  in  any  unified  social  interest  or  com- 
munity spirit ;  a  district  where  living  conditions 
were  rapidly  becoming  so  bad  that  the  chances 
of  economic  success  were  lessening,  and  hopes 
of  establishing  permanent,  comfortable  and 
happy  homes  were  disappearing.  These  people 
wanted  a  good  school  for  their  children,  but 
even  more  than  that,  they  wanted  a  good  coun- 
try school.  They  had  pride  and  ambition  in 
their  home  and  their  occupation  as  well  as  in 
their  children.  T^hey  believed  that  a  good  school 
in  the  country  would  tend  to  keep  their  children 
at  home,  would  give  them  the  education  that  is 
necessary  to  make  a  success  of  farming,  and 
enable  them  to  find  for  themselves  the  interests 
and  connections  which  are  necessary  for  a  con- 
tented and  well-balanced  life.  They  hoped  also 
that  a  good  school  would  draw  Porter  district 
together,  and  check  the  disintegration  con- 
stantly increasing  because  of  the  division  in  the 
community  and  the  proximity  of  Kirksville. 
One  family  especially  felt  that  the  reorganiza- 
tion of  the  school  was  their  last  chance  to  hold 
the  family  together  and  to  educate  their  chil- 


68  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

dren  for  the  life  which  they  loved  and  believed 
in. 

Naturally  this  group  of  people  was  ready 
and  eager  to  give  Mrs.  Harvey  every  assistance 
within  its  power.  And  every  kind  of  assistance 
would  be  needed,  for  the  demonstration  had  to 
be  made  on  the  usual  sum  spent  on  the  school. 
Due  to  this  nucleus  of  determined  supporters, 
Mrs.  Harvey  entered  her  work  with  much  con- 
fidence in  her  ability  to  succeed  under  condi- 
tions even  worse  than  the  average.  There  was 
no  question  of  failure  in  the  class  room;  she 
had  taught  for  many  years  and  in  all  types  of 
schools,  and  knew  rural  conditions  thoroughly. 
Her  class-room  problem  was  to  show  other 
teachers  how,  starting  with  nothing,  and  al- 
^  *  ways  with  the  meager est  equipment,  they  could 
^^^se  the  best  methods  and  give  a  diversified  cur- 
riculum. But  this  was  not  new  to  her.  The 
main  problem  to  her  and  her  supporters  was 
to  develop  a  school  which  should  function  ade- 
quately as  a  vital  part  of  the  community.  This 
was  a  particularly  difficult  problem,  because  it 
involved  creating  not  only  the  school,  but  al- 
most the  community  itself.  Hopeless  as  this 
problem  looked,  it  was  made  easier  for  Mrs. 
Harvey  because  she  believed  that  the  methods 


HOW  PORTER  FOUND  A  SOLUTION    69 

best  for  a  class  room  were  also  the  best  fer 
creating  a  community. 

Mrs.  Harvey  has  achieved  remarkable  suc- 
cess because  the  people  of  Porter  have  ful- 
filled their  part  of  the  task,  turning  from  the 
city  to  unite  their  own  neighborhood.  Without 
a  leader  to  point  the  way,  the  school  and  dis- 
trict would  undoubtedly  have  remained  in  their 
former  state.  But  the  mere  appointment  of  an 
expert  teacher  and  clever  manager  will  never 
be  enough  to  remake  a  community.  The  peo- 
ple must  evolve  their  own  community ;  and  com- 
munity life  must  be  a  necessity  to  them.  With 
a  teacher-leader  to  give  the  initial  impetus  and 
the  practical  help  needed  by  a  group  unused  to 
team  work,  every  district  ought  to  be  able  to  do 
as  much  and  more  than  Porter  has  done. 

Mrs.  Harvey  came  to  Porter  not  with  a  ready- 
made  plan  for  class-room  lessons,  and  a  sched- 
ule of  clubs  and  social  activities  for  the  adults, 
but  with  a  firm  belief  that  in  Porter  there  lay 
the  possibilities  for  the  development  of  a  real 
social  spirit  which,  when  once  awakened,  would 
be  powerful  enough  to  build  up  for  itself  the 
methods  of  expression  that  were  best  suited  to 
its  needs.  Everything  that  has  been  done  has 
had  a  basis  in  some  fundamental  need  of  the 
community.  At  first  her  only  attempt  was  to 


70  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

get  the  school  into  proper  running  order.  But 
in  everything  that  she  undertook  Mrs.  Harvey 
took  the  whole  group  into  her  confidence;  she 
told  them  what  she  wanted  to  do,  how  it  could 
be  done,  and  asked  for  help.  By  sharing  respon- 
sibility with  as  many  of  the  community  as  she 
could  get  to  listen,  she  rapidly  built  up  the 
habit  of  cooperation.  Parents  were  no  longer 
allowed  to  think  their  duty  done  when  their 
children  were  sent  off  to  school  in  the  morn- 
ing. Mrs.  Harvey  showed  them  definitely 
how  to  make  the  school  a  better  place  for  the 
children,  and  when  necessary  helped  them  make 
it  so.  When  the  district  saw  what  it  had  ac- 
complished by  working  together  in  the  school, 
it  was  ready  to  work  as  a  unit  on  some  of  its 
general  interests  and  needs.  In  everything,  she 
has  emphasized  the  power  and  value  of  coopera- 
tion. It  is  a  familiar  word  to  the  smallest  chil- 
dren in  the  school,  and  the  pupils  have  chosen  it 
for  their  school  motto.  What  has  been  accom- 
plished has  been  done  not  by  Mrs.  Harvey  for 
her  neighbors,  but  by  every  one  working  to- 
gether. 

Mrs.  Harvey  believes  that  it  is  the  function 
of  the  teacher-leader  to  initiate  this  cooperation 
in  a  community;  and  it  is  through  such  work 
as  this  that  she  believes  stable,  progressive  and 


HOW  PORTER  FOUND  A  SOLUTION  71 

prosperous  fanning  populations  will  grow  up. 
Certainly  the  picture  of  Porter  to-day  is  one 
of  hope  and  promise  for  the  rising  generation 
of  farmers;  while  five  years  ago  it  was  one  of 
the  most  discouraging  of  disintegrated  com- 
munities. The  credit  for  most  of  the  change  be- 
longs to  Mrs.  Harvey,  and  yet  if  she  were  to 
leave,  the  community  would  not  slump  to  its 
former  state.  By  showing  them  how  to  work 
as  a  unit,  she  has  shown  them  how  to  convert 
the  promise  of  country  life  into  a  reality.  She 
has  never  done  things  for  the  people  of  Porter, 
she  has  done  things  with  them.  And  the 
changes  that  have  come  have  affected  not 
merely  a  spot  here  and  there  in  the  lives  of  the 
people,  but  have  given  them  the  power  to  change 
their  whole  lives.  She  has  not  attempted  to 
change  everything  at  once,  but  has  always 
worked  slowly  enough  to  be  sure  that  whatever 
was  undertaken  would  meet  an  easily  recog- 
nized want  in  the  community.  For  a  long  time 
after  she  came  to  Porter,  she  worked  only  on 
the  school;  any  wider  influence  came  only  as 
it  grew  out  of  school  problems.  The  next  step 
after  the  cooperative  interest  of  the  community 
in  the  school  was  firmly  established,  came  in 
the  social  life  and  conditions  in  the  district,  and 
last  in  the  gradual  growth  of  the  community  to 


72  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOE  OLD 

the  understanding  of  the  need  of  economic  re- 
forms. The  needs  of  the  children  and  the 
school  lessons  have  always  been  the  starting 
point  in  changes,  and  each  thing  has  been  al- 
lowed to  develop  naturally  from  the  last. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  STORY  OF  THE  NEW  PORTEB  SCHOOL 

A  HANDFUL  of  progressive  parents  had  hired 
a  new  teacher  to  come  to  Porter  to  reorganize 
the  district  school,  to  make  of  it  the  best  pos- 
sible place  for  their  children  to  receive  the  kind 
of  education  they  needed.  The  teacher  had 
agreed  to  come  on  two  conditions,  first  that 
she  should  have  a  free  hand  for  three  years,  and 
second,  that  she  should  have  a  home  of  her  own 
in  the  community. 

The  problem  of  finding  the  best  way  to  re- 
organize still  had  to  be  settled.  Mrs.  Harvey 
already  knew  many  of  the  people  of  the  district, 
having  taught  their  children  in  the  model 
school;  she  had  seen  the  Porter  school  house 
and  knew  many  of  the  problems  that  would  have 
to  be  solved.  She  was  determined  first  and 
last  to  have  a  school  which  would  be  a  demon- 
stration of  the  possibilities  of  education  in  a 
one-room  building  with  country  taxes  and  coun- 
try salaries.  So  when  she  signed  the  school 
board's  contract  she  agreed  to  come  for  the 

73 


74  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

first  year  at  a  salary  of  fifty  dollars  a  month. 
This  was  in  the  summer  of  1912. 

For  her  home  the  school  board  offered  Mrs. 
Harvey  the  one  empty  house  the  district 
boasted.  This  was  a  tumble-down  cottage  the 
owner  had  planned  to  tear  down,  because  it  was 
so  dilapidated.  The  school  board  persuaded 
him  to  offer  it  instead  to  Mrs.  Harvey  at  a 
rental  of  five  dollars  a  month.  The  building 
was  in  very  bad  condition,  doors  off,  sagging 
floors  and  holes  in  the  roof;  the  wife  of  the 
farmer  who  owned  it  persuaded  him  that  it 
would  be  a  useless  expense  to  repair  it,  because 
there  was  not  the  slightest  chance  that  a  teacher 
like  Mrs.  Harvey  would  stay  more  than  one 
year  in  Porter.  The  board  knew  that  this  was 
an  inadequate  way  to  meet  Mrs.  Harvey's  con- 
dition of  a  home  in  the  district,  but  it  was  the 
only  possible  way  of  meeting  it  at  all.  With 
these  simple  preparations  and  the  personal 
promise  of  the  more  interested  parents  of  all  the 
help  in  their  power,  the  district  had  made  every 
contribution  to  the  experiment  of  the  new  school 
possible  to  it  at  the  time. 

Mrs.  Harvey  appreciated  what  they  had  done 
for  her,  and  yet  she  had  no  intention  of  teach- 
ing any  longer  than  was  absolutely  necessary 
in  a  building  such  as  the  school  house  then  was. 


THE  FIRST  TKAC  HKR'S  COTTAGE  IN  MISSOURI,  PUTURED  BEFORE 
AND  AFTER  MRS.  HARVEY'S  OCCUPANCY 


THE  NEW  PORTER  SCHOOL    75 

A  comfortable  building,  kept  in  decent  repair, 
with  sufficient  conveniences  to  make  it  attrac- 
tive and  to  serve  as  a  demonstration  of  hous- 
ing possibilities  for  the  district  was  an  essen- 
tial part  of  her  program.  Although  the  build- 
ing was  over  twenty  years  old  and  the  school 
board  was  beginning  to  talk  about  the  need  for 
a  new  one,  Mrs.  Harvey  had  many  reasons  to 
discourage  plans  for  a  new  school  and  to  in- 
terest the  people  in  making  the  best  out  of  what 
they  had.  Chief  of  these  reasons  perhaps  was 
the  thought  that  the  days  of  the  district  school 
are  numbered;  consolidation  will  come  rapidly 
in  regions  where  people  have  been  made  to  ap- 
preciate the  value  and  possibilities  of  country 
education  by  a  few  years  of  vital  teaching  in 
their  old  one-room  buildings.  A  demonstra- 
tion, which  started  out  by  demanding  a  new 
building,  would,  she  felt,  lose  most  of  its 
value. 

What  was  needed  was  someone  to  take  what 
could  be  found  in  any  rural  district,  and  to 
show  how  it  could  be  made  into  a  first-rate 
school.  Mrs.  Harvey  could  not  do  this  alone. 
It  would  be  necessary  for  her  to  get  help  for 
the  simple  remodelling  of  the  building  she  had 
in  mind.  In  this  necessity  she  saw  a  splendid 
opportunity  to  get  a  grip  on  the  second  part  of 


76  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

her  program,  that  of  awakening  community 
spirit. 

Shortly  after  she  had  arranged  to  teach  in 
Porter,  the  school  board  called  a  mass  meeting 
in  the  school  house  for  patrons  to  hear  the 
new  teacher  tell  what  she  hoped  to  accomplish. 
Mrs.  Harvey  took  this  opportunity  to  point  out 
to  the  parents  the  futility  of  trying  to  have  a 
good  school  in  such  a  hideous  and  dirty  place  as 
this  building.  She  told  them  of  the  idea  that 
the  mere  learning  of  reading,  writing  and  arith- 
metic did  not  constitute  an  education  for  chil- 
dren; that  country  children  had  as  much  right 
to  demand  a  well-rounded  education  which 
should  teach  them  how  to  live,  as  city  children ; 
and  that  with  their  help  she  meant  to  give  it 
to  their  children.  As  a  first  step,  she  wanted 
to  make  the  school  room  a  convenient  and  at- 
tractive place.  She  spoke  to  them  of  the  dan- 
ger to  the  children's  health,  in  the  heating  sys- 
tem, the  dirty  well,  the  unlocked  outbuildings, 
and  the  unshaded  windows.  She  pointed  out  to 
them  the  impossibility  of  any  teacher's  putting 
the  proper  amount  of  time  and  energy  into  her 
actual  teaching  if  she  had  always  to  be  fighting 
against  falling  plaster  and  a  leaking  roof  and 
had  to  be  cleaning  up  after  tramps.  The  school 
board  had  saved  up  some  tax  money  in  order 


THE  NEW  PORTER  SCHOOL   77 

to  make  the  most  necessary  repairs  on  the  build- 
ing, and  they  now  offered  to  spend  it  according 
to  Mrs.  Harvey's  ideas.  The  board  had  fifty 
dollars  which  they  spoke  of  spending  for  a 
cyclone  cellar  in  the  school  yard.  The  building 
had  become  so  badly  out  of  repair  that  they  felt 
there  was  danger  to  the  children  in  the  recur- 
ring tornadoes  that  sweep  the  plains.  Mrs. 
Harvey  suggested  that  a  cellar  be  put  under  the 
school  room,  thus  making  it  possible  to  heat  by 
furnace  and  adding  a  room  to  the  school.  This 
agreed  upon,  Mrs.  Harvey  offered  a  plan  by 
which  the  community  could  at  once  make  their 
school  house  into  a  comfortable  and  safe  build- 
ing. The  men  themselves  were  to  contribute  the 
necessary  labor;  then  there  would  be  enough 
money  for  the  materials  for  the  cellar,  the  heat- 
ing and  plumbing  systems,  repair  of  roof  and 
redecoration.  Most  of  the  community  re- 
sponded and  agreed  to  do  themselves  all  the 
work  necessary  to  put  the  building  in  proper 
condition. 

The  small  group  of  doubters,  who  were  unable 
to  understand  Mrs.  Harvey's  motives  for  com- 
ing to  Porter,  were  taking  a  skeptical  and  dis- 
couraging attitude.  Now  when  they  saw  that 
actual  changes  in  the  school  plant  were  in  prog- 
ress their  fear  of  becoming  involved  in  what 


78  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

seemed  to  them  useless  expense  became  crystal- 
lized into  active  opposition.  The  plans  for  im- 
provements seemed  to  them  so  out  of  proportion 
to  their  conception  of  the  needs  of  a  district 
school  that  they  came  to  feel  as  they  watched 
the  plans  develop  and  expand  that  things  of  sin- 
ister import  were  under  way ;  that  the  work  was 
actually  illegal  and  that  if  it  went  on  the  whole 
district  would  be  ruined.  Their  opposition  was 
at  first  due  to  the  fact  that  they  had  well-estab- 
lished political  habits  antagonistic  to  the  plans 
of  the  group  that  were  actively  working  for  the 
school.  When  they  saw  things  done  that  cost 
money  they  read  signs  of  graft ;  and  it  was  not 
long  before  they  were  opposing  on  principle 
every  move  of  the  patrons  of  the  school.  Their 
feeling  of  bitterness  was  increased  by  the  fact 
that  some  of  the  families  that  had  sided  with 
them  in  the  past  were  working  hard  for  the 
school.  In  fact  most  of  the  families  with  chil- 
dren of  school  age  flocked  to  the  new  school 
regardless  of  their  political  affiliations  or  of  the 
neighborhood  feuds  that  had  divided  the  dis- 
trict in  the  past.  The  opponents  of  the  school 
began  searching  the  school  statutes,  in  the  hopes 
of  finding  some  instance  where  either  the 
teacher  or  a  member  of  the  board  had  over- 
stepped his  authority.  They  started  a  petition 


THE  NEW  PORTER  SCHOOL    79 

for  a  special  school  meeting  in  an  effort  to  vote 
down  this  spending  of  the  surplus  school  funds 
for  improvements,  and  they  threatened  to  ap- 
pear with  an  injunction  to  stop  work  as  soon  as 
it  was  begun  on  the  grounds. 

Meanwhile  plans  were  completed  for  a  cement 
cellar,  a  furnace,  a  water  system  and  for  the 
work  of  papering,  painting,  and  shingling  neces- 
sary to  put  the  building  in  shape.  This  included 
grading  the  yard,  rebuilding  the  toilets,  putting 
up  dark-colored,  adjustable  window  shades  and 
lowering  the  blackboards  so  that  the  younger 
children  could  reach  them.  The  school  board 
was  to  spend  the  money  for  necessary  materials 
including  the  furnace,  and  the  men  of  the  neigh- 
borhood were  to  begin  the  work  as  soon  as  they 
could  arrange  to  leave  their  farm  work  for 
short  periods. 

Mrs.  Harvey  left  for  a  summer  vacation  feel- 
ing that  she  had  already  made  good  headway 
toward  solving  one  of  her  main  problems,  that 
of  teaching  the  community  the  meaning  of  co- 
operation. The  very  fact  that  the  district  did  • 
not  have  money  enough  to  hire  men  to  do  all  the 
necessary  work  on  the  building  helped  the  be- 
ginning of  the  growth  of  a  real  community 
spirit  To  get  the  work  done  the  district  had 
to  plan  as  a  whole  and  to  ask  each  individual 


80  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

to  contribute  what  he  could  for  the  good  of  the 
whole.  Then  when  the  actual  work  was  started 
each  individual  was  expected  to  join  the  group 
working  in  the  school  yard  whenever  he  could 
spare  any  time  from  his  farm.  The  men  came 
to  know  each  other  better  than  they  ever  had 
before;  they  learned  each  other's  strong  and 
weak  points,  and  in  watching  the  school  house 
grow  they  came  to  have  a  realization  of  their 
power  as  a  community.  When  the  handful  of 
doubters  began  to  show  their  active  opposition, 
the  workers  were  drawn  more  closely  together ; 
their  work  took  on  a  new  value  and  the  school 
became  a  cause  to  fight  for.  If  there  had  been 
any  danger  that  the  reorganization  of  the  school 
would  stop  half  way  because  of  loss  of  interest, 
that  danger  disappeared  as  soon  as  its  oppon- 
ents became  active. 

One  of  the  farmers '  wives  of  the  district  kept 
a  diary  of  the  work  on  the  school  house  done  by 
the  men  in  the  summer  of  1912.  The  diary  be- 
gins August  21st  with  the  following  entry: 
"Rumored  that  improvements  on  school  house 
will  be  stopped  by  an  injunction  suit."  Au- 
gust 24th: — "Heard  this  morning  of  petition 
being  circulated  asking  for  special  election  to 
determine  will  of  patrons  regarding  basement 
and  furnace  proposition.  So  the  school  work 


THE  NEW  PORTER  SCHOOL   81 

was  begun  by  hauling  four  loads  of  sand.  Meet- 
ing of  the  board  held  at  once,  clerk  included; 
they  went  to  town  and  paid  for  the  furnace, 
hoping  that  by  so  doing  the  trouble  might  be 
avoided.  The  sand  was  also  hauled  to-day  with 
that  purpose  in  view.  The  petition  was  signed 
by  about  twenty-eight  patrons.  The  board  con- 
sulted the  prosecuting  attorney,  who  said  the 
board  was  clearly  within  its  legal  rights  and  to 
go  ahead;  that  they  had  blocked  the  game  by 
hauling  the  sand."  Another  entry  says: — 
"Twenty-two  loads  of  sand  hauled  to-day." 

September  4th: — "Commenced  work  on 
school  house  by  hauling  cement  blocks,  cement, 
and  raising  blocks.  Eleven  men  worked.  The 
house  was  raised  ready  for  excavating.  First 
photos  taken.  There  was  no  trouble,  though 
there  had  been  a  threat  to  have  papers  served 
whenever  they  began  actual  work. ' ' 

On  September  llth,  the  school  meeting  de- 
manded by  Mrs.  Harvey's  opponents  was  held, 
and  the  vote  was  sixteen  to  one  in  favor  of  fin- 
ishing the  improvements.  An  expert  was  hired 
to  superintend  the  work  of  installing  the  fur- 
nace; the  school  directors  had  intended  to  pay 
for  this,  but  the  men  who  had  volunteered  their 
services  decided  to  take  up  a  subscription  and 
raised  the  whole  sum. 


82 

School  opened  on  October  14th;  there  were 
no  steps  into  the  school  house;  the  teacher's 
chair  was  put  in  front  of  the  door  and  children 
and  adults  climbed  over  that  to  get  in.  The 
yard  was  full  of  piles  of  clay  and  debris,  the 
painting  and  papering  were  not  finished  and 
most  of  the  finishing  touches  were  still  to  be 
added.  The  entry  in  the  diary  for  December 
12th  says:  "Little  things  finished  to-day." 
Mrs.  Harvey  had  made  the  directors  see  the 
necessity  of  having  a  telephone  in  the  school  and 
some  of  the  men  worked  through  most  of  No- 
vember getting  that  up.  They  had  to  put  up 
new  poles  as  well  as  wires  between  the  school 
and  the  teacher 's  cottage,  because  some  of  the 
opponents  of  the  school  had  relatives  who  were 
influential  in  the  local  telephone  company  and 
refused  to  add  one  more  phone  to  the  wire  that 
already  served  the  whole  neighborhood. 

By  the  time  school  opened,  the  entire  neigh- 
borhood was  enthusiastic  over  the  possibilities 
of  the  new  school.  Their  children  were  going 
to  have  an  attractive,  comfortable  place  to  go 
to  school,  and  the  adults  through  their  work 
for  the  school  had  already  made  a  good  begin- 
ning towards  the  community  spirit  and  neigh- 
borliness,  which  to  so  many  of  them  had  become 
a  necessary  part  of  their  program  of  bringing 


THE  NEW  PORTER  SCHOOL    83 

up  their  children  to  appreciate  the  possibilities 
of  farm  life.  Another  entry  in  the  same  diary 
says:  "Mr.  X  says  now  that  he  believes  it  the 
best  thing  that  ever  happened  in  the  neighbor- 
hood ;  it  has  done  more  to  draw  us  together  than 
anything  else.  To  see  how  all  these  men  are 
neglecting  their  work  at  home  to  do  this  cer- 
tainly convinces  one  that  they  are  taking  an  in- 
terest and  were  sincere  in  offering  their  serv- 


ices.' 


In  one  summer  Porter  succeeded  in  bringing 
about  a  complete  material  reorganization  of 
its  school.  From  a  building  that  was  fam- 
ous through  many  districts  for  its  condition 
of  extreme  neglect,  the  Porter  school  house  be- 
came almost  over  night,  a  model  demonstration 
of  what  can  be  done  in  any  or  every  "  box-car " 
school  in  the  country.  It  is  true  that  the  trans- 
formation cost  considerably  more  than  the  hun- 
dred or  so  dollars  that  the  school  directors  had 
been  accumulating  to  spend  on  patching  up  the 
worst  features  of  the  old  building.  But  consid- 
ering what  was  accomplished  the  cost  was  very 
low,  and  not  one  cent  above  the  ordinary  school 
taxes  was  spent ;  there  was  no  special  levy,  and 
the  board  did  not  go  into  debt  at  the  expense  of 
the  future.  When  the  work  was  finished  it  was 
completely  paid  for.  Many  things  were  donated 


84  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

to  the  school ;  one  hundred  and  nineteen  dollars 
in  money  was  raised  by  subscription,  and  local 
dealers  gladly  gave  reductions  on  some  of  the 
things  they  sold  the  school.  Nothing  that  was 
put  in  is  expensive  or  unsuitable  to  the  school 
in  a  small  community.  The  school  costs  more 
than  it  used  to  under  the  old  regime.  But  a 
small  increase  in  cost  has  yielded  a  dispropor- 
tionately large  return  in  value  to  the  children 
and  to  the  community. 

At  this  time  there  were  a  few  model  rural 
schools  in  Missouri,  but  this  was  the  first  at- 
tempt to  take  a  rundown  district  and  reorganize 
it,  making  a  first-class  school  and  at  the  same 
time  establishing  a  community  center.  Mrs. 
Harvey  saw  a  great  deal  of  work  ahead  of  her, 
and  she  expected  to  stay  in  Porter  only  three 
years.  Therefore  she  wanted  to  begin  her  ac- 
tual work  with  her  equipment  in  as  good  shape 
as  possible. 

Any  one  acquainted  with  rural  conditions 
knows  that  one  of  the  main  difficulties  that  the 
rural  schools  have  to  contend  with  is  the  un- 
willingness of  farmers  to  spend  anything  more 
than  the  absolute  minimum  in  taxes.  It  takes 
a  well-developed  public  spirit  to  make  people 
cheerful  about  giving  their  money  back  to  the 
government.  Most  farmers  have  little  or  none 


THE  NEW  PORTER  SCHOOL    85 

of  this  feeling  and  a  great  deal  of  the  opposite 
feeling;  that  most  taxes  are  spent  in  dishonest 
ways;  that  the  government  is  too  little  con- 
cerned with  the  welfare  of  the  farmer ;  and  that 
it  is  a  rather  dangerous  thing  to  try  to  work 
with  other  people  anyway ;  the  best  way  to  get 
along  is  to  fight  shy  of  anything  that  looks  like 
change  and  to  work  as  hard  as  possible  on  their 
own  land. 

If  Mrs.  Harvey  had  been  less  familiar  with 
Porter  and  its  needs,  she  would  have  gone  more 
slowly.  But  she  had  lived  next  door  to  the  dis- 
trict for  years,  and  had  been  teaching  nearly 
half  the  children  of  the  district  in  the  model 
school  in  Kirksville.  It  was  her  intimate  ac- 
quaintance with  conditions  in  Porter  that  had 
enabled  her  to  formulate  many  of  her  ideas 
about  the  one-room  school.  She  was  in  no  sense 
rushing  in  on  unfamiliar  ground  and  persuad- 
ing the  district  to  undertake  a  program  founded 
only  on  theories,  regardless  of  the  particular 
needs  of  that  community.  One  of  the  reasons 
she  had  moved  to  Porter  wasTecauie  she  saw 
that  it  was  a  great  mistake  to  try  to  work  out  a  ^ 
pattern  rural  school,  which  should  be  applied 
to  every  district,  whatever  the  conditions.  She 
knew  that  whatever  she  suggested  aimed  to 
supply  some  actual  need  of  the  Porter  situ- 


86  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOE  OLD 

ation.  In  another  district  one  of  the  things 
that  was  desirable  in  that  particular  situation 
was  to  hurry  as  fast  as  possible  the  material 
improvements.  A  program  of  reorganization 
might  postpone  that  part  of  the  work  until  much 
later,  especially  if  building  and  equipment  are 
more  satisfactory  than  they  were  at  Porter. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  all  districts  must 
learn  to  spend  more  than  three  to  four  hundred 
dollars  a  year  on  their  schools,  before  they  can 
expect  a  very  satisfactory  result.  Yet  Mrs. 
Harvey  was  probably  right  in  thinking  that  one 
of  the  best  and  quickest  ways  of  teaching  this 
lesson  is  for  a  few  pioneer  experiments  to  prove 
that  the  money  is  well  spent  by  getting  concrete 
results  as  rapidly  as  possible. 

The  Porter  building  is  now  twenty-five  years 
old.  Five  years  ago  it  was  falling  to  pieces 
from  neglect.  But  in  its  present  state  of  repair 
there  is  no  reason  why  it  should  not  last  another 
twenty-five  years.  Surely  that  is  the  kind  of 
lesson  in  economy  that  every  district  can  learn 
to  advantage. 

The  following  report  of  the  Porter  School  was 
sent  to  Mrs.  Harvey  by  the  superintendent  of 
schools  for  Adair  County  before  she  began  her 
teaching  there.  There  had  been  four  teachers 
during  the  past  three  years;  the  same  young 


THE  NEW  PORTER  SCHOOL    87 

woman  for  the  three  spring  terms,  and  three 
different  teachers  for  the  winter  terms.  Their 
salaries  had  ranged  from  thirty-five  to  forty- 
seven  dollars.  The  levy  for  the  past  two  years 
had  been  forty  cents  on  the  hundred  dollars, 
amounting  to  three  hundred  and  eighty-seven 
dollars  from  the  district.  The  state  contribu- 
tions had  brought  the  total  sum  up  to  five  hun- 
dred and  ninety-one  dollars.  The  total  number 
of  children  of  school  age  in  the  district  were  56 ; 
number  enrolled  at  Porter,  23 ;  with  an  average 
attendance  of  13.  He  goes  on  to  say:  "The  gen- 
eral rank  of  this  school  is  below  the  average. 
The  equipment  compares  very  well  with  other 
schools  in  the  county.  Physical  conditions  are 
poor,  i.e.  house  and  outbuildings.  No  blinds  at 
windows,  house  cold,  plaster  off,  wall  dirty, 
stove  in  center;  outhouses  very  poor.  The 
yard  is  very  pretty  and  can  be  made  beautiful.** 
When  the  school  opened  on  October  14th,  con- 
ditions were  already  so  radically  different  that 
the  superintendent  would  have  had  to  rank  the 
school  above  the  average.  There  was  an  expert 
teacher  in  charge,  who  had  not  only  agreed  to 
stay  three  years,  but  was  planning  to  live  in  the 
district  the  year  round.  The  building  was  firmly 
anchored  to  a  concrete  foundation.  The  front 
door  was  rehung  so  that  it  would  shut,  the  win- 


88  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

dows  had  their  full  quota  of  panes.  The  out- 
houses were  moved  to  opposite  sides  of  the  yard, 
cleaned,  painted,  and  fitted  with  doors  that 
could  be  locked  against  tramps.  The  grading 
of  the  yard  was  under  way  and  the  coal  shed 
was  transformed  into  a  barn  for  the  school 
wagon  team. 

Inside  the  changes  were  even  more  marked, 
only  the  absolutely  essential  things  having  been 
done  on  the  outside.  For  winter  would  soon 
come  on  and  the  interior  needed  to  be  as  com- 
fortable as  possible.  The  vestibule  was  pro- 
vided with  racks  for  the  children's  things.  The 
stairs  led  from  it  into  the  basement.  The  build- 
ing had  been  raised  high  enough  so  that  there 
was  room  for  a  number  of  small  windows  at  the 
top  of  the  basement,  which  made  it  light  enough 
to  use  for  class  work  on  all  but  dark  days.  The 
walls  and  floor  were  sealed  with  thick  cement, 
so  that  the  room  was  perfectly  dry  and  comfort- 
able for  the  children.  The  furnace  and  coal  bin 
were  placed  at  one  end  of  the  room,  roughly  par- 
titioned off  to  keep  the  room  clean.  A  long 
board  table  was  built  at  the  same  time  the  rest 
of  the  carpentry  work  was  done.  The  chairs 
for  this  room  were  donated  by  a  local  furniture 
dealer.  Full  size  folding  chairs  were  chosen  so 
that  they  could  be  easily  moved  about,  and  extra 


THE  NEW  PORTER  SCHOOL    89 

chairs  would  be  available  when  the  building  was 
used  for  community  gatherings.  A  pressure 
tank  connecting  with  the  newly  cleaned  well,  a 
patent  drinking  fountain,  and  a  kitchen  sink 
were  installed.  For  these  improvements  Mrs. 
Harvey  was  responsible,  the  work  was  volunteer 
except  for  necessary  expert  service ;  the  money 
for  this  was  raised  by  contributions.  The  base- 
ment now  boasts  a  coal-oil  stove,  a  kitchen  table, 
a  cupboard  of  dishes,  which  were  put  in  by  the 
women's  club  for  their  own  use.  Some  inex- 
pensive blackboards  hang  on  the  walls.  Tools 
and  supplies  are  stored  on  shelves  or  in  a  small 
closet.  Children's  individual  towels  are  kept 
on  a  rack  in  an  inconspicuous  place.  Even  the 
smallest  children  are  taught  how  to  use  a  first- 
aid  cabinet,  which  hangs  within  their  reach. 

Upstairs  the  hideous  iron  stove  is  gone ;  in  its 
place  are  several  inconspicuous  registers.  The 
plaster  was  mended,  and  the  walls  papered  with 
a  pleasing  neutral  shade  of  oatmeal  paper.  This 
paper  has  lasted  five  years  and  is  still  clean  and 
in  good  condition.  The  woodwork  was  cleaned 
of  the  dark  smokey  paint,  and  repainted  a 
golden  brown.  A  new  book  case  was  built  in 
and  the  old  one  repaired.  The  desks  were 
scrubbed  and  revarnished,  and  the  extra  ones 
removed.  The  platform  for  the  teacher's  desk 


90  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

was  taken  away  and  a  new  teacher's  desk  and 
chair  placed  against  the  wall  at  the  front  of  the 
room.  On  the  rear  wall  hung  an  eight-day  clock. 
An  organ  and  a  phonograph  were  loaned.  For 
the  past  three  years  the  community  has  been 
renting  a  piano  as  part  of  the  regular  school 
equipment.  The  over  bright  light  that  streamed 
in  the  windows  on  both  sides  was.  controlled  by 
adjustable  shades.  The  two  doors  opening  into 
the  vestibule  were  provided  with  glass  panels 
to  allow  light  to  enter  the  rear  of  the  room. 

To  a  teacher  used  to  town  conditions  most  of 
these  things  are  taken  for  granted  as  necessi- 
ties. But  when  we  think  of  the  Porter  school 
building  of  the  past  and  the  conditions  that  pre- 
vail in  the  majority  of  our  one-room  schools,  we 
realize  how  revolutionary  this  seemed  to  the 
neighborhood.  The  stove  the  school  had  been 
using  was  bought  twenty-four  years  ago,  and 
with  one  exception  that  is  the  last  record  of  any 
money  spent  for  improvements  or  repairs. 
About  ten  years  ago  the  board  had  built  a  small 
shed  in  the  school  yard,  for  storing  coal,  or 
putting  up  a  horse  or  two.  Of  course  small 
sums  must  have  been  spent  from  time  to  time 
to  patch  up  things  that  became  hopelessly 
broken  or  worn  out,  but  there  had  been  no  ef- 
fort to  improve  or  repair.  The  simplest  plan  of 


THE  NEW  PORTER  SCHOOL   91 

up-keep  would  have  prevented  such  extreme  de- 
terioration. 

Mrs.  Harvey's  plans  for  material  improve- 
ments did  not  stop  with  the  overhauling  of  the 
building.  She  intended  that  a  healthful,  clean, 
and  attractive  school  house  should  become  a 
necessity  to  the  district.  This  much  established, 
she  hoped  to  be  able  to  add  gradually  to  the 
equipment  of  the  school  until  she  could  demon- 
strate that  the  best  kind  of  school  had  just  as 
much  place  in  the  country  as  in  the  city.  The 
building  was  in  order  and  she  meant  to  keep  it 
that  way  so  that  any  future  surplus  could  be 
spent  on  new  things. 

Mrs.  Harvey  had  arranged  with  the  directors 
for  janitor  service  to  be  paid  for  with  school 
funds  instead  of  out  of  her  own  pocket  accord- 
ing to  the  usual  country  school  custom.  So  for 
two  and  a  half  dollars  a  month  she  hired  as  jani- 
tor one  of  the  older  boys,  who  was  planning  to  go 
back  to  school  for  another  year.  This  was  not 
enough  money  to  enable  a  boy  to  come  to  school 
when  his  work  was  badly  needed  on  the  farm; 
and  the  first  winter  three  boys  had  to  be  taught 
how  to  do  the  work,  in  order  to  have  a  janitor 
in  school  every  day.  Since  then  the  board  has 
paid  five  dollars  a  month,  and  there  has  been  no 
trouble  in  finding  a  boy  who  could  be  depended 


92  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

upon  to  be  regular.  The  janitor  gets  to  school 
before  the  others  in  time  to  start  the  fire,  and  he 
also  regulates  the  furnace  all  day.  He  washes 
the  boards,  and  sweeps  and  dusts  every  day; 
once  a  week  he  helps  the  teacher  and  the  older 
pupils  wash  the  basement  and  school-room  floor. 
The  floor  of  the  room  is  very  old  and  splintery, 
but  by  a  thorough  oiling  and  sweeping,  it  is  kept 
in  excellent  shape  with  very  little  work.  The 
older  children  share  much  of  the  work  of  caring 
for  the  premises ;  they  are  responsible  for  keep- 
ing the  lamps  cleaned  and  filled ;  and  they  all  un- 
derstand the  furnace,  the  rules  for  ventilating, 
and  lighting,  and  they  know  where  everything 
is  kept. 

At  first  there  was  much  doubtful  headshak- 
ing,  because  it  was  feared  that  tramps  would 
break  into  the  school  house  and  undo  all  the 
work.  But  it  was  agreed  that  every  attempt 
should  be  made  to  keep  them  out  and  strong 
locks  were  put  on  the  doors  and  windows  which 
were  fastened  each  night.  The  first  winter 
tramps  broke  in  and  slept  in  the  building  three 
times,  but  did  little  damage.  One  night  the 
nuisance  was  put  an  end  to  once  for  all  by  the 
arrest  of  three  tramps  who  had  broken  in  and 
were  sentenced  to  a  short  jail  term.  These  three 
men  stopped  one  night  at  a  farm  near  the  school 


THE  NEW  PORTER  SCHOOL   93 

and  asked  to  be  taken  in  for  the  night.  The 
farmer  refused  them;  then  they  demanded  the 
keys  to  the  school  house,  saying  they  had 
planned  to  sleep  there,  but  had  moved  on  when 
they  saw  it  was  locked.  The  farmer,  remem- 
bering the  threats  to  burn  barns  if  the  school 
was  locked,  became  frightened,  and  volunteered 
the  information  that  they  would  find  a  key  at 
the  teacher's  cottage.  They  went  there  and 
were  turned  away  by  Mrs.  Harvey,  and  then 
went  back  to  the  school  house  and  broke  in. 
Meanwhile  Mrs.  Harvey  telephoned  her  sus- 
picions to  some  of  the  school  directors,  who 
quietly  followed  the  tramps  and  saw  them  break 
in.  They  went  to  the  nearest  house  and  tele- 
phoned for  the  sheriff  and  soon  had  the  tramps 
in  jail.  This  is  the  last  time  it  has  even  been 
attempted,  and  there  have  never  been  any  of 
the  threatened  outrages. 

The  lesson  of  cooperation  has  been  learned  so 
well  that  the  building  is  in  perfect  repair  to-day, 
the  paper  and  paint  look  fresh  and  new,  the 
window  shades  work  and  are  used,  and  if  a  pane 
of  glass  is  broken,  it  is  sure  to  have  been  a  real 
accident. 

The  yard  is  always  tidy,  and  gradually  play 
apparatus  has  been  put  up,  until  there  is  a  very 
creditable  outdoor  gymnasium.  The  second  fall 


94  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOE  OLD 

three  of  the  farmers  contributed  the  material  to 
put  up  a  giant  stride  and  a  flag  pole,  and  some- 
one else  gave  the  school  a  volley  ball.  Since 
then  they  have  added  some  parallel  bars,  and 
the  posts  and  baskets  for  basket  ball.  Improve- 
ments have  gone  on  inside  the  school  house,  too. 
The  desks  are  used  only  for  the  older  children 
now  and  half  the  room  is  furnished  for  the  little 
children  with  moveable  tables  and  chairs  of  dif- 
ferent sizes.  Mrs.  Harvey  has  invented  a  series 
of  low  cupboards  on  castors  that  are  used  for 
primary  supplies  and  for  seats  for  the  adults  at 
community  gatherings.  By  very  careful  buy- 
ing, inventing  and  contriving,  she  has  amassed 
a  stock  of  school  supplies  that  would  do  credit 
to  any  school. 

The  Porter  school  building  is  one  of  the  most 
valuable  of  Mrs.  Harvey's  contributions  to  rural 
education.  She  has  shown  how  any  community 
can  have  as  good  a  school  plant  as  it  wants,  and 
that  this  plant  can  be  made  from  the  building 
at  hand  at  a  minimum  expense.  The  force  of 
her  lesson  is  emphasized  in  her  own  neighbor- 
hood to-day,  by  comparing  a  near-by  school 
house  with  Porter.  The  other  building  was  built 
four  years  ago,  and  cost  $1,100.00.  It  is  built 
according  to  the  plans  worked  out  by  a  state 
normal  school  for  a  model  rural  school  building, 


THE  NEW  PORTER  SCHOOL    95 

and  one  might  naturally  expect  Porter  to  suffer 
by  comparison.  But  the  building  has  evidently 
never  had  any  regular  care,  and  the  result  is, 
that  in  spite  of  a  more  modern  plan,  and  a  much 
more  substantial  type  of  building,  the  school 
looks  much  older.  The  plaster  is  off  the  walls  in 
patches,  the  wall  paper  is  streaked  with  water, 
the  windows  are  thick  with  dust,  and  the  floor 
looks  as  if  it  were  washed  once  a  year.  The 
furnace  was  on  the  same  floor  with  the  school 
room,  an  arrangement  which  the  teacher  said 
she  thought  poor,  as  it  was  very  hard  to  keep 
the  room  warm  enough.  Although  it  was  sum- 
mer the  door  to  the  furnace  room  was  standing 
open,  and  coal  was  strewn  all  over  the  floor ;  the 
tools  were  piled  up  in  a  corner  of  the  cloak  room 
and  coal  dust  had  been  tracked  all  over  the  hall- 
ways. In  a  few  years  more  the  building  will  be 
in  a  tumble-down  condition,  unless  changes  are 
made  in  its  care.  The  district  voted  bonds  for 
the  building,  which  are  not  yet  paid  for,  yet  in 
a  very  short  time  they  will  probably  have  to 
spend  a  considerable  sum  on  repairs. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that,  looked  at  merely 
from  the  point  of  view  of  economy,  keeping  the 
school  house  in  good  condition  pays.  If  local 
boards  would  realize  this  and  provide  for  jani- 
tor service  and  then  would  hold  their  teachers 


96  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

just  as  responsible  for  seeing  to  the  up-keep  of 
the  building  as  for  covering  the  state  cur- 
riculum, the  results  would  be  beneficial  to 
teachers,  pupils,  and  taxpayers.  It  is  un- 
reasonable to  expect  an  inexperienced,  under- 
paid teacher,  who  expects  to  stay  in  a  school 
only  three  months,  on  her  own  initiative  to  set 
right  a  situation  like  the  above,  when  it  means 
that  she  herself  would  have  to  do  all  the  work 
involved  in  cleaning  up.  But  it  is  equally  un- 
reasonable of  school  boards  to  complain  because 
a  more  capable  teacher  will  not  stay  year  after 
year,  when  they  refuse  to  do  anything  to  im- 
prove such  conditions.  As  long  as  physical 
conditions  in  the  majority  of  rural  schools  are 
so  bad  that  good  teachers  won't  stay  and  poor 
ones  cannot  learn,  anything  which  contributes 
to  the  solution  of  the  problem  will  have  great 
practical  value. 

If  it  were  possible  to  give  children  an  educa- 
tion in  a  dirty,  tumble  down  building  the  prob- 
lem would  not  deserve  so  much  thought,  and 
Mrs.  Harvey  would  not  have  put  so  much  of  her 
time,  energies  and  resources  into  the  material 
side  of  her  work  at  Porter.  But  she  believes 
with  most  other  students  of  the  rural  problem 
that  the  farming  population  will  never  be  able 
to  hold  its  own  against  the  call  of  town  life  until 


THE  NEW  PORTER  SCHOOL   •  97 

it  learns  the  lesson  of  respect  for  material 
things.  Farmers  have  learned  that  their  ani- 
mals must  be  kept  clean  and  comfortable,  but 
they  will  never  be  able  to  profit  by  the  added 
prosperity  this  will  bring  them  until  they  de- 
mand before  everything  else  that  their  own  lives 
shall  be  dignified  and  comfortable.  Mrs.  Har- 
vey believes  that  it  is  the  function  of  the  school 
to  teach  this  and  that  where  the  lesson  is 
needed,  it  should  be  taught  in  the  community 
so  that  every  one  may  profit  by  it.  It  is  a  lesson 
that  is  learned,  not  from  text-books,  or  from 
formal  statements,  but  from  meeting  the  prac- 
tical problem  of  how  to  enrich  their  lives  build- 
ing upon  what  they  have.  Every  improvement 
that  was  put  into  the  Porter  school  house  had, 
therefore,  a  double  function.  It  was  designed 
to  make  the  building  a  fit  place  for  the  teacher 
to  teach  in  and  the  children  to  work  in,  but  it 
was  also  designed  as  a  demonstration  for  the 
whole  community  of  the  way  the  ordinary  things 
of  life  can  be  arranged  conveniently  and  attrac- 
tively. 

Most  of  tke  farm  houses  in  that  part  of  Mis- 
souri do  not  have  basements,  so  there  was  an 
added  reason  for  putting  a  basement  in  the 
school  house.  Every  farmer  or  farmer's  wife 
who  has  been  inside  the  Porter  school  knows 


98  NEW  SCHOOLS  FOE  OLD 

that  a  basement  makes  a  house  warmer,  and 
gives  a  lot  of  convenient  space  for  storing,  and 
he  is  pretty  sure  to  have  decided  that  if  he  ever 
has  another  house  it  will  be  one  with  a  basement 
and  a  furnace.  Heating  a  house  with  stoves  is 
hard  work  in  the  cold  winters  of  most  of  our 
states;  and  it  usually  means  extremes  of  tem- 
perature and  bad  air,  with  resulting  ill-health. 
So  Mrs.  Harvey  had  a  heating  system  put  in 
the  school  house,  that  would  not  only  do  for 
that  building,  but  would  be  obviously  suited  to 
any  house  in  the  district.  The  sink  in  the  base- 
ment has  been  used  a  lot  by  the  school,  but  it 
has  also  served  to  show  the  farm  women  how 
very  much  easier  their  work  would  be  if  they 
had  running  water  and 'a  waste  pipe.  The  sink, 
the  tank  and  the  simple  waste  pipe  that  requires 
no  cess-pool  were  purposely  chosen,  because 
they  were  within  the  means  of  the  homes  of  the 
district.  When  the  school  building  was  im- 
proved there  was  only  one  house  in  the  district 
that  had  running  water  inside;  now  there  are 
several.  The  drinking  fountain  was  put  in  be- 
cause Mrs.  Harvey  felt  that  children  and  adults 
alike  lacked  any  knowledge  of  even  the  simplest 
rules  of  hygiene.  Children  in  country  schools 
usually  went  all  day  without  drinking  any 
water,  and  they  almost  never  had  any  regular 


•"  s  V 


</ 

'  1  - 


•.."_..,     •••  • 


GIRLS'  TOII.KT  BEFORE  AND  AFTER  RECONSTRUCTION.     NOTE  THE  VINES 

AND  SHRUBS,  THE  PATH  OK  CINDERS,  AND  BLUE  GRASS  INSTEAD 

OK  WEEDS  ix  THE  YARD 


THE  NEW  PORTER  SCHOOL    99 

habits  of  drinking  between  meals.  When  the 
fountain  was  in  all  the  pupils  were  sent  at  both 
morning  and  afternoon  recess  to  get  a  drink. 
As  a  result  most  of  the  colds  and  indigestion 
which  used  to  be  so  common  in  the  school  have 
disappeared.  Mrs.  Harvey  wanted  play  ap- 
paratus in  the  school  yard  from  the  very  begin- 
ning, because  the  children  got  plenty  of  hard 
work,  but  almost  no  healthy  exercise.  She 
wanted  them  to  learn  how  to  play  and  she 
wanted  them  to  do  things  out  doors  that  would 
need  all  around  exercise  to  bring  bodily  relax- 
ation. 

The  things  that  were  done  in  the  school  room 
were  done  with  an  eye  to  their  usefulness 
as  object  lessons  for  the  whole  community.  The 
walls  were  papered  because  everyone  in  Porter 
uses  wall  paper,  but  a  paper  was  chosen  that 
would  look  well  in  any  room,  that  would  make 
a  good  back-ground  for  pictures,  and  that  could 
be  had  even  more  inexpensively  than  the  pa- 
pers that  were  in  common  use.  The  pictures 
hung  on  the  wall  have  been  chosen  because  they 
would  be  appropriate  anywhere,  were  interest- 
ing enough  in  subject  matter  to  appeal,  and 
would  serve  as  undisputed  models  of  good  taste. 
The  very  sweeping  compound  that  is  used  for 
the  floor  and  the  scrub-pail  were  selected  be- 


100         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

cause  they  do  the  work  they  are  designed  for 
with  the  least  possible  effort  on  the  part  of  the 
person  who  is  using  them. 

The  teacher's  cottage  has  served  as  a  com- 
munity demonstration  of  the  ways  to  make 
housework  both  pleasanter  and  easier.  Mrs. 
Harvey  lives  in  an  even  smaller  and  more  in- 
convenient house  than  most  of  those  in  the  dis- 
trict, and  yet  by  a  careful  study  of  the  work 
that  was  to  be  done  and  the  needs  of  her  fam- 
ily, Mrs.  Harvey's  mother  has  worked  out  do- 
mestic arrangements  and  a  program  of  work 
that  give  the  greatest  comfort  with  the  least  ef- 
fort. The  possibility  of  making  their  work 
easier  had  not  even  occurred  to  most  of  the 
farmers'  wives;  they  had  never  looked  about 
their  houses  to  see  if  they  were  making  or  sav- 
ing work  for  themselves.  All  this  has  been  truly 
educational,  Mrs.  Harvey  believes,  because  until 
farmers  learn  the  fundamental  lesson  that  they 
will  advance  their  prosperity  and  the  interest 
of  their  lives  only  as  they  learn  to  conquer  their 
material  environment,  there  is  not  much  use  try- 
ing to  teach  them  literature  or  even  arithmetic. 

The  first  step  in  the  reorganization  of  the 
Porter  school  was  the  repair  of  the  school 
house,  changing  it  from  a  dirty,  unsanitary,  un- 
attractive one-room  shed  into  a  two-room  build- 


THE  NEW  PORTER  SCHOOL       101 

ing  admirably  suited  to  the  needs  of  the  chil- 
dren, and  quite  adequate  as  a  gathering  place 
for  the  whole  community.  In  doing  this  Mrs. 
Harvey  accomplished  many  other  things  that 
she  considers  essential  parts  of  the  work  of  a 
rural  teacher,  and,  moreover,  made  a  demon- 
stration of  what  can  be  done  with  almost  any 
one-room  school  house,  with  no  more  outlay 
than  is  at  the  command  of  any  district.  Per- 
haps the  biggest  thing  that  the  rebuilding  of 
the  house  started  in  Porter  was  the  community 
interest  which  came  with  the  volunteer  and  co- 
operative labor  of  the  men.  A  vital  interest  in 
the  school  was  developed  that  could  never  have 
existed  if  the  men  had  merely  paid  for  the  build- 
ing. And  a  district  where  each  family  had  lived 
isolated,  where  there  were  no  community  tra- 
ditions and  no  community  spirit  or  pride,  was 
drawn  together  into  a  working  unit  with  a  com- 
mon cause  and  a  method  of  expression.  This 
was  the  biggest  thing  because  it  is  the  first  es- 
sential in  starting  any  piece  of  work  and  because 
farmers  lack  cooperative  habits  more  than  any 
other  group.  Once  they  realize  the  force  of 
group  action  and  the  advantages  to  be  gained 
from  it,  they  are  started  on  the  road  to  self- 
education. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  GROWTH  OF  THE  COMMUNITY 

MRS.  HARVEY  believes  every  school  house  is  a 
community  investment  and  that  the  community 
should  demand  a  far  greater  return  on  what  it 
has  put  in  than  it  does  at  present.  The  pre- 
vailing notion  is  that  a  school  building  is 
for  school  purposes  only,  regardless  of  the  fact 
that  many  a  district  goes  heavily  into  debt  to 
build  it.  The  building  stands  idle  eighteen 
hours  every  school  day,  two  whole  days  each 
week  and  from  three  to  six  months  during  the 
year.  Instead  of  contributing  to  the  life  of  the 
community  through  community  service  during 
all  these  idle  hours,  the  building  is  deteriorat- 
ing from  lack  of  use.  Since  the  school  house  is 
the  seat  of  very  little  activity  there  is  very  little 
general  interest  in  its  condition ;  untidiness  and 
uncleanliness  are  the  rule,  and  result  in  a  steady 
depreciation,  which  makes  even  a  small  initial 
investment  a  very  expensive  one.  Before  many 
years  it  becomes  necessary  to  vote  the  money 
for  a  new  building.  Meanwhile,  the  children  are 

102 


GROWTH  OF  THE  COMMUNITY    103 

suffering  from  the  condition  of  their  school 
house.  Finally  the  neighborhood  conscience  is 
aroused  and  a  new  building  appears,  which  goes 
the  way  of  the  old  one. 

Having  obtained  a  new  building  for  the  Por- 
ter school  by  the  inexpensive  method  of  rehabil- 
itating the  old  one,  Mrs.  Harvey  was  determined 
that  it  should  yield  the  whole  community  a  fair 
return  for  the  work  done  upon  it.  She  used  the 
strong  interest  in  the  school  awakened  by  this 
cooperative  work  as  the  starting  point  in  teach- 
ing the  community  the  many  advantages  of  de- 
manding an  adequate  return  on  its  school  invest- 
ment. It  was  not  necessary  to  make  a  definite 
attack  upon  the  old  ideas  of  the  limited  use  of 
the  building ;  everyone  was  eager  and  curious  to 
see  the  new  school  and  to  hear  all  about  the  new 
things  happening  in  it,  so  they  were  glad  to 
make  new  opportunities  to  meet  there.  By  mak- 
ing these  chances  for  the  community  to  come  to- 
gether in  the  school  house  Mrs.  Harvey  has  fed 
the  interest  in  the  school  until  at  present  it 
would  be  impossible  for  the  district  to  slip  back 
to  its  old  ways.  Without  this  interest  she  could 
never  have  developed  the  school  to  its  present 
point  of  educational  efficiency,  nor  built  up,  as 
she  has,  the  present  community  use  of  the  school 
plant. 


104         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

As  Mrs.  Harvey's  work  progressed,  she  saw 
every  day  new  community  needs  and  new  pos- 
sibilities for  the  extension  of  the  school  service. 
But  she  never  made  the  mistake  of  going  too 
rapidly.  She  had  no  ready-made  program  for 
the  use  of  a  school  as  a  community  center  when 
she  came  to  Porter.  Even  after  she  saw  the 
kind  of  center  that  would  mean  most  to  them 
she  did  not  try  to  establish  it  at  one  stroke.  She 
let  it  grow  gradually  as  the  people  themselves 
became  conscious  of  each  new  possibility.  It  is, 
therefore,  from  their  own  growing  realization 
of  their  existence  as  a  community  that  they  have 
developed  under  her  guiding  hand  the  remark- 
able number  of  community  activities  that  now 
center  around  the  school  house.  The  history  of 
the  community's  relation  to  the  school  during 
the  first  year  shows  better  than  any  abstract 
discussion  the  value  of  Mrs.  Harvey's  method: 
that  of  leading  the  community  to  see  its  own 
needs,  her  own  work  being  that  of  an  executive 
secretary,  rather  than  the  initiator  and  final 
authority.  It  is  true  that  at  first  very  little  of 
the  reorganization  of  the  Porter  school  was  not 
conceived,  planned,  and  carried  out  by  Mrs. 
Harvey ;  moreover,  as  long  as  she  remains  there 
she  will  be  the  community  leader.  But  it  is  a 
leadership  that  merely  points  the  way,  not  one 


that  expects  or  would  accept  blind  following. 
First  she  does  nothing  which  does  not  meet 
some  need  the  community  recognizes ;  and  then 
she  always  demands  the  help  of  others,  insist- 
ing that  they  take  a  full  share  in  the  responsi- 
bility. 

After  the  summer  mass  meeting  held  to  plan 
the  rebuilding  of  the  school  house,  the  commun- 
ity did  not  meet  formally  at  the  school  house 
until  the  Christmas  party ;  although  the  work  of 
getting  things  in  order  was  progressing  stead- 
ily. Early  in  December  Mrs.  Harvey  noticed 
that  the  children  were  talking  about  the  Christ- 
mas tree  parties  that  were  going  to  be  held  in 
the  neighboring  school  houses.  Their  lives  were 
so  lacking  in  opportunities  for  social  expression 
that  the  approaching  celebration  was  of  tre- 
mendous importance.  Mrs.  Harvey  was  fa- 
miliar with  the  type  of  Christmas  party  that  is 
usual  in  the  district  school  and  wanted  to  give 
her  pupils  something  more  suitable  to  the  occa- 
sion. She  realized  that  the  usual  party,  where 
the  spirit  of  Christmas  was  forgotten  in  the 
crude  jokes  of  a  coarse  Santa  Glaus,  a  long  pro- 
gram of  "pieces'*  by  the  children,  designed  to 
give  as  many  pupils  as  possible  chances  for 
speaking,  and  a  "treat"  by  the  teacher,  whose 
meager  salary  forced  her  to  sacrifice  all  stand- 


106         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

ards  of  quality  for  quantity,  is  in  no  sense  a 
proper  celebration  of  the  season.  But  she  also 
realized  that  a  community  was  right  in  demand- 
ing that  Christmas  should  not  be  neglected. 
Meaningless  and  boisterous  parties  were  the 
rule  because  the  people  and  the  teacher  had  not 
the  resources  and  imagination  to  supply  any- 
thing better,  not  because  they  really  preferred 
something  vulgar.  The  Porter  program  was 
planned  for  the  afternoon. of  December  24th,  be- 
cause that  was  a  time  that  would  not  interfere 
with  any  of  the  neighboring  parties,  and  would 
enable  the  community  to  make  its  own  judgment 
as  to  which  it  considered  the  more  appropriate 
celebration  by  seeing  the  two  types  in  close  suc- 
cession. 

About  the  middle  of  December  Mrs.  Harvey 
began  to  emphasize  the  Christmas  .idea  in  all 
the  class  work.  Dickens'  Christmas  carol  was 
read  in  morning  exercises  and  good  music 
played.  The  hand  work  periods  were  devoted 
to  making  simple  and  useful  gifts  for  parents. 
A  few  photographs  of  great  paintings  were  put 
on  the  wall,  and  their  stories  told  the  children. 
The  Christmas  carol  furnished  the  .key  for  the 
preparations.  Scrooge  became  extremely  dis- 
tasteful to  the  children,  and  the  ".not  what  we 
give,  but  what  we  share ' '  idea  permeated  every 


GROWTH  OF  THE  COMMUNITY    107 

activity.  The  school  learned  Christmas  songs 
and  a  short  program  devoted  entirely  to  ap- 
propriate selections  was*planned.  The  holiday 
soon  meant  all  that  it  ought  to  the  school,  and 
the  gathering  held  on  the  24th  showed  the 
whole  community  what  a  Christmas  party  con- 
ceived and  carried  out  in  the  spirit  of  the  season 
could  be.  Besides  the  short  program,  which  had 
been  chosen  to  bring  about  a  definite  step  in  the 
education  of  Porter,  there  was  a  small  tree  and 
a  Santa  Claus  who  distributed  the  gifts  the 
children  had  made;  as  well  as  a  general  social 
hour.  All  Mrs.  Harvey's  aims  were  accom- 
plished by  this  first  Christmas  program,  and 
similar  exercises  held  on  the  afternoon  before 
Christmas  have  become  a  fixture  in  the  com- 
munity social  calendar.  All  the  parents  of  the 
district  attend  and  as  many  others  as  the  school 
will  hold.  It  is  one  of  the  best  mediums  for 
holding  social  ideals  and  sound  ethical  stand- 
ards before  the  community. 

On  January  10th  Mrs.  Harvey  made  her  first 
definite  move  in  the  organization  of  the  district 
for  better  agriculture.  At  her  request  the  board 
closed  the  school  for  one  week,  while  she  took 
four  of  the  older  boys  to  Columbia,  Missouri, 
for  "Farmers'  Week."  The  Porter  farmers 
had  made  little  use  of  the  technical  help  the  state 


108          NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

had  to  offer  them,  so  the  quickened  interest  in 
agriculture  that  the  boys  brought  back  from  Co- 
lumbia was  a  revelation  to  them.  The  district 
was  unused  to  taking  part  in  any  outside  activi- 
ties, but  as  a  favor  to  Mrs.  Harvey  and  through 
her  success  in  arousing  the  interest  of  the  boys 
themselves,  the  parents  were  induced  to  go  to 
the  expense  of  sending  their  sons  to  "Farmers' 
Week. ' '  But  this  one  wisely  directed  experience 
was  enough  to  convince  the  whole  neighborhood 
of  the  value  of  such  investments.  Towards  the 
end  of  the  month  a  rural  expert  came  to  visit 
the  school,  and  while  he  was  there  the  second 
community  gathering  took  place.  This  meeting 
served  a  double  purpose ;  it  gave  the  community 
a  chance  to  meet  a  distinguished  man  who  had 
come  to  visit  their  school,  and  the  boys  a  chance 
to  tell  their  neighbors  what  they  had  learned 
during  their  week's  stay  at  the  state  agricul- 
tural college.  The  program  consisted  of  a  lec- 
ture by  the  expert  and  five-minute  talks  by  each 
of  the  four  boys  who  had  been  to  Columbia. 

Later  in  February  another  interesting  visitor 
talked  to  the  patrons.  A  family,  said  to  be 
musical,  came  to  the  school  house  for  the  first 
time.  Some  neighbors  had  suggested  that  this 
family  be  asked  to  play.  The  oldest  sister 
played  the  organ  and  the  three  brothers  played 


GROWTH  OF  THE  COMMUNITY    109 

the  violin,  mandolin  and  guitar.  They  played 
by  ear,  as  they  had  never  had  any  musical 
training.  This  was  the  first  Porter  concert. 
Mrs.  Harvey  noted  the  immense  pleasure  the 
whole  community  took  in  these  crude  perform- 
ances; she  decided  that  before  she  left  Porter 
she  would  contrive  a  method  by  which  any  one 
in  the  district  could  learn  enough  music  to  sat- 
isfy his  musical  hunger. 

The  next  community  use  of  the  school  house 
was  for  a  teachers'  and  patrons'  institute,  last- 
ing two  days.  This  was  a  temporary  device 
fixed  by  law  to  bring  school  and  home  together. 
Five  meetings  were  held  in  different  parts  of 
the  county ;  country  school  houses  were  selected 
by  the  county  superintendent  for  the  purpose. 
Teachers  and  parents  in  that  particular  district 
were  asked  to  participate.  Lecturers  were 
brought  to  talk  on  the  topics  usual  at  teachers ' 
gatherings :  industrial  work,  music,  agriculture, 
reading,  etc.  The  institute  functioned  poorly 
because  there  was  little  or  no  attempt  to  adapt 
the  lectures  to  local  needs  and  local  interests 
and  has  since  given  place  to  other  procedure. 
In  Porter  it  was  useful  because  it  was  one  of 
the  numerous  occasions  that  brought  the  dis- 
trict together  and  into  contact  with  outsid- 
ers. It  taxed  the  ingenuity  of  the  men  to  invent 


110         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

things  that  would  add  to  the  comfort  of  the 
crowd;  in  this  way  the  disappearing  coat  rack 
and  the  swinging  table  came  into  being  and  were 
permanent  improvements  in  the  school  house. 
Towards  the  spring,  the  editor  of  one  of  Mis- 
souri's agricultural  papers  came  to  the  school 
to  visit,  and  spoke  to  the  parents  in  the  even- 
ing. 

About  this  time  the  older  boys  began  to  drop 
out  of  school  to  help  with  the  early  ploughing, 
but,  unlike  other  years,  they  came  back  for  a 
day  whenever  the  weather  was  too  bad  for  work 
in  the  fields  or  when  they  could  get  away.  The 
work  received  another  impetus  in  the  early 
spring  when  Miss  Margaret  Crecelius  came  to 
stay  with  Mrs.  Harvey,  to  help  her  recover  from 
an  attack  of  pneumonia.  Miss  Crecelius  has 
been  in  Porter  ever  since;  it  has  been  through 
her  invaluable  help  that  Mrs.  Harvey  has  been 
able  to  conduct  the  Porter  school  to  the  best 
advantage  and  at  the  same  time  to  do  so  much 
toward  helping  other  teachers  to  put  a  new 
spirit  in  their  one-room  schools. 

The  state  superintendent  of  schools  and  the 
state  rural  school  inspector  came  to  visit  Porter 
in  March.  The  following  quotation  from  Miss 
Crecelius'  diary  gives  an  excellent  picture  of 
what  had  been  accomplished  inside  the  school 


GROWTH  OF  THE  COMMUNITY    111 

room  in  five  months.  "At  this  time  the  school 
was  quite  different  from  anything  else  in  the 
country.  The  school  room  was  restful  and 
clean;  there  were  tasteful  pictures  and  paper 
on  the  walls.  .  .  .  But  still  more  important  was 
the  spirit  of  the  school.  The  little  folks  (5-6 
years  old)  were  writing  'cooperation,'  'tele- 
phone,' 'furnace'  in  a  beautiful  legible  hand. 
The  older  boys  and  girls  were  busy  trying  to 
make  up  for  what  they  now  knew  they  had  lost. 
At  the  same  time  they  were  intensely  interested 
in  the  progress  of  the  little  ones.  The  kindness 
of  the  older  boys  toward  the  little  children — 
helping  them  put  on  wraps  and  rubbers — was 
touching.  The  school  had  learned  the  lesson  of 
'cooperation'  from  their  parents  and  teacher. 
The  reading  of  the  children  was  wonderful,  con- 
sidering the  short  time  since  the  opening  of  the 
school.  Even  more  wonderful  was  the  singing 
of  the  boys,  for  boys  in  the  country  are,  as  a 
rule,  too  bashful  to  sing.  Nor  was  there  any  of 
the  awkwardness  one  expects  in  boys  wear- 
ing overalls.  There  was  a  quiet  dignity  and 
self-respect  that  made  one  forget  everything 
else. 

"Incident:  A  boy,  18  years  old,  needed  to  get 
his  team  before  four  o  'clock  in  the  afternoon  in 
order  to  start  the  school  wagon  on  time.  But 


L 


112         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

so  intense  was  his  interest  in  Julius  Caesar  that 
he  did  not  start  for  the  team  until  four.  Coun- 
try children  will  respond  quickly  to  the  best 
things  if  given  the  right  stimulus. ' ' 

On  the  first  of  April  the  annual  school  elec- 
tion was  held  in  the  school  house.  This  was 
next  to  the  last  gathering  in  the  building  that 
year,  and  the  only  one  that  was  not  a  step  for- 
ward in  the  growth  of  community  spirit  and 
pride.  And  yet  even  this  meeting  served  to 
bind  closer  together  the  group  of  parents  who 
had  worked  so  hard  all  the  year  to  give  the 
school  the  right  start.  The  faction  which  has 
opposed  Mrs.  Harvey  and  her  kind  of  school 
have,  with  one  or  two  exceptions,  been  the  child- 
less householders  in  the  district.  They  came  to 
this  school  election  with  their  minds  made  up 
to  elect  a  director  who  would  oppose  everything 
that  Mrs.  Harvey  and  the  other  two  directors 
wanted;  and  they  succeeded.  They  wished  to 
hear  nothing  of  the  improvements,  their  cost  or 
use.  In  spite  of  a  full  report  of  the  donations 
that  had  been  made  to  the  school  for  improve- 
ments, the  expenditures  of  the  board  and  the 
improvements  installed,  one  of  the  men,  point- 
ing to  something  which  he  knew  had  been  given 
to  the  school,  said :  *  *  Tears  to  me,  you  bought 
about  everything  that  came  along."  This  re- 


GROWTH  OF  THE  COMMUNITY    113 

mark  illustrates  the  amount  of  intelligence  and 
thought  that  has  been  opposing  Mrs.  Harvey  so 
persistently.  The  mothers  of  the  school  chil- 
dren were  present  at  this  election,  and  have 
attended  every  year  since. 

The  last  community  gathering  of  the  school 
year  was  held  in  May,  when  a  member  of  the 
Federal  Department  of  Education  described  the 
work  of  the  Farragut  School.  But  the  work  of 
the  school  in  the  community  did  not  stop  with 
the  closing  of  the  school  term.  Miss  Crecelius 
went  home  during  the  spring  for  a  visit;  when 
she  came  back  she  brought  in  a  suitcase  the  be- 
ginnings of  one  of  the  most  important  changes 
that  have  come  to  Porter.  The  suitcase  was  full 
of  plants  and  seeds  for  kitchen  gardens ;  it  con- 
tained the  first  strawberry  plants  that  ever 
grew  at  Porter ;  and  from  it  have  come  the  small 
fruit  and  vegetable  gardens  that  grow  on  most 
of  the  farms  to-day.  When  school  stopped, 
Mrs.  Harvey  started  night  classes  for  the  boys 
who  had  had  to  drop  out  of  school  early  to  do 
farm  work. 

Mrs.  Harvey  stayed  in  Porter  all  summer, 
and  the  work  for  the  community  kept  on  grow- 
ing through  her  contact  with  the  children  and 
neighborly  visiting.  The  garden  that  came  from 
Miss  Crecelius'  suitcase  and  the  night  classes 


114         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

for  the  older  boys  were  the  only  formal  school 
undertakings  that  summer.  The  children 
planted  the  garden  around  the  teacher's  cottage 
since  the  school  house  was  too  far  away  for  the 
necessary  supervision.  Small  groups  of  chil- 
dren came  to  work  in  the  garden  all  through  the 
summer.  In  this  way  Mrs.  Harvey  kept  in 
touch  with  every  family ;  through  conversation 
and  casual  suggestion  and  advice  she  was  able 
to  continue  the  work  of  rousing  the  district  to 
a  realization  of  their  possible  strength  as  a  uni- 
fied community. 

Mrs.  Harvey  and  Miss  Crecelius  were  almost 
entirely  dependent  upon  the  kindness  of  neigh- 
bors for  their  necessities,  as  well  as  for  any 
opportunities  to  leave  the  house.  Since  she 
could  not  afford  a  horse,  it  was  impossible  for 
Mrs.  Harvey  to  get  a  change  or  attend  to  er- 
rands unless  her  neighbors  came  to  her  rescue. 
Milk  and  water,  everything,  except  the  gar- 
den products,  had  to  be  carried  from  the 
neighboring  houses.  This  gave  Mrs.  Harvey 
many  chances  for  talks  with  parents,  and  for 
keeping  up  that  intimate  knowledge  of  district 
conditions  necessary  to  rebuild  the  community. 
In  spite  of  the  great  rush  of  work  on  the  farms, 
the  people  found  time  to  stop  at  the  cottage  and 
to  do  many  kindnesses  for  the  teachers.  They 


GROWTH  OF  THE  COMMUNITY    115 

mowed  the  yard,  cleaned  up  the  place,  brought 
water  and  presents  of  provisions  and  came  to 
ask  advice  about  their  children.  Sundays,  when 
they  had  leisure,  they  formed  the  habit  of  drop- 
ping in  at  the  cottage.  A  neighbor,  who  had 
been  opposed  to  making  so  much  fuss  over  a 
mere  school,  came  one  day,  after  a  severe  storm, 
to  see  if  any  damage  had  been  done  and  stayed 
to  mend  a  leak  in  the  roof.  This  was  the  be- 
ginning of  his  enthusiastic  conversion  to  the 
support  of  the  school.  The  result  of  this  con- 
stant social  contact  was  that  when  school 
opened  in  the  fall  Mrs.  Harvey  did  not  have  to 
make  a  new  start ;  the  beginning  of  class-room 
work  was  not  the  signal  for  taking  up  a  new 
kind  of  life  that  had  been  laid  aside  for  the 
summer  vacation ;  but  summer  work  passed  into 
fall  work  with  no  change  except  that  the  chil- 
dren went  to  the  school  house  regularly  each 
day  instead  of  less  regularly  to  the  teacher 's 
cottage. 

The  first  year  of  work  had  accomplished  rela- 
tively little  in  organized  results,  but  an  immense 
amount  in  creating  sentiment  and  developing 
neighborliness  and  community  pride  from 
which  were  to  spring  the  more  definite  plans 
and  concrete  changes.  It  is  particularly  sig- 
nificant that  of  the  three  years  Mrs.  Harvey 


116         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

engaged  to  spend  in  Porter,  she  devoted  one  to 
getting  acquainted  and  watching  the  people 
learn  to  know  each  other.  This  latter  was  a 
very  important  item  for  while  most  of  the  men 
had  a  chatting  acquaintance  with  each  other, 
many  of  the  women  had  met  only  once,  were,  in 
fact,  total  strangers  except  for  the  hearsay 
knowledge  they  had  of  each  other's  farms,  fam- 
ilies, mutual  friends,  etc.  If  Mrs.  Harvey  had 
picked  one  or  two  definite  things  as  the  most 
important  weaknesses  in  Porter  and  set  out  to 
change  them,  she  probably  would  only  have  suc- 
ceeded in  affecting  a  few  people  in  a  superficial 
and  temporary  way.  If,  again,  she  had  gone  to 
Porter  with  plans  for  calling  certain  meetings, 
organizing  certain  clubs,  and  effecting  some  spe- 
cial changes  in  agricultural  methods,  for  in- 
stance, she  probably  would  have  succeeded  in 
arousing  only  the  suspicion  and  antagonism  of 
most  of  the  district.  In  a  community  where 
each  farm  lived  for  itself  alone,  isolated  from 
its  neighbors  and  cut  off  from  contact  with  or- 
ganized forces  of  any  kind ;  where  the  only  out- 
let for  its  social  instinct  was  a  visit  to  town  in 
the  role  of  spectator,  a  program  demanding  im- 
mediate active  participation  in  organized  activi- 
ties would  have  been  doomed  to  failure.  While 
the  slower  method  of  simply  giving  the  families 


GROWTH  OF  THE  COMMUNITY    117 

a  chance  to  know  each  other,  talking  to  them 
about  the  possibilities  of  their  environment  and 
helping  them  with  their  individual  problems  by 
advice  and  example,  loosed  forces  that  resulted 
in  organizations  and  movements.  The  demands 
for  active  contributions  to  the  remodeling  of 
the  school  house  kept  interest  focussed  on  the 
school,  giving  the  necessary  feeling  of  re- 
sponsibility and  confidence  in  the  whole  under- 
taking. 

School  opened  the  second  year  on  the  29th  of 
September,  and  the  first  community  gathering 
was  held  on  October  fourteenth,  the  anniversary 
of  the  opening  of  the  new  school.  This  gather- 
ing has  become  an  annual  institution,  and  either 
adults  or  children  try  each  year  to  arrange  an 
especially  attractive  program  for  the  "  birthday 
party"  of  the  new  school.  The  children  had 
written  the  invitations  to  their  parents  and 
neighbors  as  part  of  their  school  work.  The 
first  part  of  the  evening  they  entertained  an 
audience  of  about  sixty  people  with  a  simple 
program  of  songs  and  recitations.  After  this 
the  adults  gave  reminiscent  talks  about  the  old 
days  of  the  school,  some  of  them  from  the  chil- 
dren 's  grandparents  who  had  themselves  gone 
to  the  school.  The  next  year  the  same  audience 
attended  the  birthday  party,  and  this  time  the 


118         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

adults  gave  most  of  the  program,  entertaining 
the  children  with  recitations  they  used  to  give 
when  they  were  in  school,  and  with  an  old-fash- 
ioned spelling  bee.  The  children  of  the  third 
grade  took  part  in  this  program  to  the  extent 
of  giving  out  the  words ;  one  can  imagine  their 
pride  in  the  new  school  when  they  discovered 
how  much  better  Mrs.  Harvey  was  than  the 
spelling  teachers  their  parents  had  had.  By 
this  time  it  had  become  a  regular  custom  to  have 
some  sort  of  music  at  each  gathering;  if  the 
pupils  did  not  sing  some  of  their  school  cho- 
ruses, some  of  the  young  people  would  sing  or 
play.  At  this  meeting  the  same  family  who,  by 
their  playing,  had  made  Mrs.  Harvey  realize 
the  need  of  music  gave  a  short  concert,  and 
some  of  the  other  young  people  sang.  By  the 
time  the  school  was  ready  for  its  third  birthday 
the  community  had  developed  to  such  an  extent 
that  it  invited  outsiders  to  share  in  the  celebra- 
tion. There  were  nearly  a  hundred  and  fifty 
people  in  the  building ;  Mrs.  Harvey  gave  a  his- 
tory of  the  school,  but  most  of  the  entertainment 
was  given  by  prominent  visitors  who  had  been 
taking  part  in  the  shortcourse  of  agriculture 
that  came  to  a  close  that  day.  The  last  year  or 
so,  the  birthday  parties  have  become  family 
affairs  again,  where  the  community  likes  to  get 


GROWTH  OF  THE  COMMUNITY    119 

together  to  review  the  progress  made  daring 
the  year,  to  make  plans  for  the  future,  and  to 
laugh  or  wax  enthusiastic  over  the  trials  and 
efforts  of  its  first  steps  towards  a  community 
life. 

The  same  night  that  the  school  held  its  first 
birthday  party,  the  women  of  the  community 
organized  the  first  adult  club :  The  Farm  Wo- 
men's  Club  of  Porter  Community.  Without 
this  organization  much  of  the  present  commun- 
ity use  of  the  school  house  would  be  impossible. 
Any  woman  may  become  a  member  by  signing 
the  constitution,  and  all  the  women  of  Porter 
belong,  and  with  one  or  two  exceptions  all  take 
part  in  its  activity.  Its  object,  as  stated  in  the 
constitution,  is  to  "unify  the  women  of  this  com- 
munity who  are  more  or  less  separated  because 
of  the  long  distances  between  their  homes,  and 
the  complex  duties  of  farm  life;  to  provide 
means  of  improvement  and  recreation  for  all  its 
members;  to  foster  a  spirit  of  neighborly  co- 
operation in  all  undertakings  that  will  enrich 
the  home  life  of  its  members;  and  to  support 
every  legitimate  effort  towards  the  upbuilding 
of  a  school  which  will  serve  efficiently  the  need 
of  a  growing  community — a  school  that  will  be 
the  social  center,  and  develop  a  community  life 
that  will  anchor  our  boys  and  girls  to  their 


120         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

community. "  The  activities  that  the  club  has 
initiated  have  been  directed  more  obviously  to- 
ward the  development  of  the  community  than 
towards  recreation  for  its  members,  but  the 
women  have  found  their  greatest  pleasure  and 
refreshment  in  feeling  that  at  last  they  are  able, 
by  working  together,  to  build  up  a  social  life 
and  a  neighborhood  spirit  which  will  insure  a 
wholesome  and  happy  environment  for  their 
children.  It  is  through  the  efforts  of  the  club 
that  the  school  has  accumulated  most  of  the 
equipment  that  is  used  for  community  gather- 
ings and  is  at  the  disposal  of  the  community. 
There  is  a  large  stock  of  drinking  cups,  dishes 
and  spoons,  an  oil  stove  and  an  oven,  cooking 
utensils,  lamps,  etc.,  used  for  school  gatherings 
where  refreshments  are  served.  There  are  a 
canning  outfit  and  a  steam-pressure  cooker,  and 
folding  chairs  and  decorative  material  that  are 
lent  to  the  community.  The  club  women  see  to 
the  refreshments  when  they  are  served,  which 
is  seldom,  sell  lunches  at  the  demonstrations 
and  short  courses1  held  at  the  school,  and  buy 
extra  coal  and  oil  for  use  when  the  school  is 
open  at  night.  They  have  furnished  material 
for  the  children  to  make  individual  towels  for 
their  use  at  school,  and  occasionally  help  Mrs. 
Harvey  out  with  other  small  articles  that  the 


GROWTH  OF  THE  COMMUNITY    121 

school  needs.  They  have  also  devoted  time  and 
thought  to  helping  each  other  by  discussions  of 
their  mutual  problems  at  meetings  and  by  plan- 
ning together  ways  to  help  individuals  in  times 
of  sickness  or  trouble.  Mrs.  Harvey  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  club,  and  it  is  at  its  meetings  that  she 
has  an  opportunity  to  talk  over  in  detail  plans 
for  the  school  and  to  learn  the  opinion  of  the 
group  as  to  their  children's  needs.  When  plans 
for  any  new  project  are  on  foot  Mrs.  Harvey 
and  the  Women's  Club  usually  get  together  and 
talk  over  the  plans  and  possibilities  and  agree 
upon  a  campaign  for  launching  the  scheme. 
Her  hand  is  greatly  strengthened  by  the  help 
they  give  her  in  building  up  public  opinion ;  they 
take  most  of  the  responsibility  for  the  smooth 
running  of  the  machinery  for  the  numerous 
gatherings  which  the  community  shares  with 
other  neighborhoods.  At  first  the  club  met  once 
a  month,  but  now  they  have  so  much  work  on 
hand  and  so  many  interests  that  there  are 
usually  two  meetings  a  month. 

The  next  organization  formed  in  Porter  came 
as  a  direct  result  of  the  Farm  Women's  Club. 
Since  distances  are  long  and  the  women  have  to 
drive  to  their  club  meetings,  they  are  always 
accompanied  by  their  husbands.  The  men  cus- 
tomarily spent  the  evenings  visiting  or  playing 


122         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

games  while  their  wives  conducted  their  busi- 
ness. After  a  few  weeks  the  men,  too,  decided 
to  organize  and  get  more  out  of  their  evenings 
spent  at  the  school  house.  Their  organization  is 
called  the  Farmers'  Club,  and  their  activities 
always  have  the  community  interest  for  a  mo- 
tive. They  have  taken  over  the  responsibility 
for  the  cooperative  care  of  the  school  plant,  thus 
saving  Mrs.  Harvey  the  burden  not  only  of 
planning  every  step  in  detail,  but  of  securing 
the  necessary  volunteer  labor  for  its  execution. 
The  club  has  cooperated  with  the  school  board 
to  get  improvements  for  the  school  which  would 
not  have  been  possible  otherwise.  They  have 
dynamited  and  planted  trees  on  the  school  yard, 
built  a  fence,  put  on  a  new  roof;  put  up  hitch- 
ing posts  and  fixed  a  parking  space ;  they  have 
built  a  stage  for  use  at  big  school  gatherings ; 
and  they  keep  the  school  telephone  in  order. 
They  have  also  made  the  rental  of  a  school  piano 
possible,  by  hauling  the  coal  for  the  furnace  free 
of  charge,  thus  saving  the  board  the  money  to 
apply  to  piano  rent.  They  also  take  charge  of 
the  outdoor  celebrations ;  make  all  the  arrange- 
ments for  refreshments,  the  stage  and  lighting; 
get  the  yard  in  order  and  provide  hitching  and 
parking  space  for  visiting  conveyances.  Be- 
sides the  activities  connected  with  the  school 


GROWTH  OF  THE  .COMMUNITY    123 

{ 

and  the  social  life  of  the  community,  the  Farm- 
ers'  Club  devotes  itself  to' the  improvement  of 
agriculture  in  the  district  The  kind  of  work 
they  have  done  in  this  field  and  its  results  will 
be  discussed  in  a  later  chapter. 

The  second  year  of  the  school  Mrs.  Harvey 
and  two  or  three  of  the  farmers  took  a  pioneer 
step  that  has  richly  paid  Porter  and  set  an  ex- 
ample to  the  whole  state.  For  the  first  time  in 
the  state  of  Missouri,  thie  state  agricultural  col- 
lege sent  one  of  its  branch  courses  to  a  country 
district  instead  of  holding  it  in  a  town.  At  first 
the  university  did  not  think  it  practical  nor  see 
the  value  of  sending  lecturers  to  such  a  sparsely 
settled  district.  But  Mrs.  Harvey  continued  to 
urge  'the  college  until  it  consented  to  try.  Fi- 
nally, in  the  fall  of  1913,  the  course  was  held  in 
the  Porter  School.  The  first  day  nineteen  men 
attended ;  on  the  f ourtli  day  there  was  an  audi- 
ence of  two  hundred.  The  courses  were  held  at 
the  school  house;  the  older  boys  were  excused 
from  their  regular  lessons  to  attend  the  lectures 
and  what  they  learned  there  was  the  basis  of 
their  school  work  for  some  time  afterwards. 
The  rest  of  the  school  met  at  the  teacher's  cot- 
tage and  at  one  of  the  neighboring  farm  houses 
where  the  lessons  went  on  as  usual.  Mrs.  Har- 
vey and  Miss  Crecelius,  with  the  assistance  of  a 


124         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

young  woman  who  had  previously  taught  in  the 
school,  took  turns  in  staying  at  the  school  build- 
ing and  in  teaching  those  children  who  were  not 
old  enough  to  profit  by  the  courses.  The  teach- 
ers were  free  to  give  the  necessary  time  to  their 
classes  since  the  two  community  clubs  were  • 
tending  to  the  management  of  the  course.  The 
Women's  Club  cooked  and  served  free  lunches 
at  the  school  building  to  help  insure  a  success- 
ful week.  The  men's  club  attended  to  all  the 
details  of  receiving  and  seating  visitors  and  to 
the  care  of  teams  and  automobiles,  besides  the 
sale  of  tickets.  The  expenses  of  the  course  were 
met  by  charging  each  farmer  one  dollar's  sub- 
scription for  the  week's  lectures.  These  ex- 
tension lectures  and  demonstrations  in  agricul- 
ture have  now  become  a  regular  institution  at 
Porter. 

In  two  or  three  years  one  of  the  neighboring 
school  districts  shared  the  course  with  Por- 
ter, each  lecturer  dividing  his  time  between 
the  two  places.  One  autumn  the  attendance 
was  small  because  the  men  had  to  work  in  the 
fields  or  lose  their  crops.  But  with  this  excep- 
tion the  courses  have  grown  in  popularity  from 
year  to  year,  farmers  driving  from  many  miles 
around  to  the  lectures.  Even  when  the  course 
has  been  held  in  two  places  in  a  relatively  small 


GROWTH  OF  THE  COMMUNITY    125 

area,  there  have  been  enough  interested  farm- 
ers for  both. 

It  was  not  until  the  following  year  that  the 
Women's  Club  became  strong  enough  to  make 
it  wise  to  attempt  the  same  thing  for  the  wo- 
men 's  work  on  the  farm.  But  in  January,  1915, 
the  state  college  of  agriculture  sent  a  group  of 
women  instructors  in  home  economics  to  Por- 
ter. For  a  week  they  lectured  and  gave  practi- 
cal demonstrations  to  the  farm  women  of  the 
neighborhood  on  food  preservation,  canning, 
household  economy,  labor-saving  devices,  farm 
cooking  and  the  care  of  infants.  This  course 
was  so  popular  with  the  women  that  they  did 
not  wait  a  year  to  hold  another ;  they  asked  the 
teachers  to  come  back  the  following  summer 
and  concentrate  on  canning  and  the  use  of  green 
vegetables  when  the  materials  would  be  avail- 
able for  actual  demonstration.  This  course  was 
held  at  the  school  house  with  the  same  arrange- 
ments for  the  school  classes  that  had  been  made 
for  the  short  courses  in  agriculture.  All  the 
girls,  except  the  youngest,  were  excused  to  at- 
tend the  lectures  and  demonstrations.  They 
took  notes  and  listened  attentively  in  order  to 
be  able  to  use  what  they  had  learned  for  their 
school  note-books,  class  discussions  and  spelling 
lessons.  The  women  in  the  district  are  most 


126          NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

enthusiastic  about  the  courses ;  they  now  think 
about  their  household  problems,  try  to  make 
improvements  wherever  possible,  and  where 
they  cannot  solve  their  problems  they  make 
mental  notes  of  questions  to  be  asked  at  the 
next  extension  course. 

Ever  since  the  first  year,  when  the  musical 
family  furnished  an  impromptu  concert,  the 
programs  at  the  community  gatherings  had  been 
arranged  to  give  some  expression  to  the  musical 
interests  of  the  people.  Sometimes  the  children 
sang  school  songs,  sometimes  the  musical  fam- 
ily played,  or  two  or  three  of  the  young  people 
were  selected  to  sing ;  and  sometimes  the  whole 
gathering  would  sing  old  favorites,  or  patriotic 
songs.  During  this  period  Mrs.  Harvey  was 
quietly  thinking  up  a  plan  to  help  the  older  boys 
organize  a  band.  She  talked  o$  the  idea  to  the 
mothers  and  received  their  enthusiastic  sup- 
port. To  counteract  the  allurements  of  an  even- 
ing in  town  by  the  right  kind  of  recreation, 
which  would  give  the  boys  a  chance  for  the 
necessary  sociability  and  fun,  was  the  hardest 
problem  that  these  parents  had  to  meet.  Mrs. 
Harvey  knew  that  the  boys  themselves  were 
anxious  for  the  band,  and  most  of  the  boys  had 
already  selected  their  instruments.  But  the 
difficulties  in  the  way  were  numerous.  By 


GROWTH  OF  THE  COMMUNITY    127 

April,  1915,  Mrs.  Harvey  had  thought  of  ways 
to  meet  all  the  difficulties.  One  of  the  regular 
club  nights  was  devoted  to  the  discussion  of 
plans  for  the  formation  of  a  community  band. 
The  men's  club  met  in  joint  session  with  the 
women's,  and  listened  to  two  speakers  from 
Kirksville  who  were  interested  in  the  plan  and 
wanted  to  help.  A  few  days  later  the  Porter 
community  band,  consisting  of  thirteen  mem- 
bers, was  organized.  Now  the  young  women  of 
the  district  are  members ;  and  the  younger  boys 
have  formed  a  junior  band.  It  is  so  popular 
that  the  young  people  give  up  Saturday  nights 
to  band  practice,  with  scarcely  a  regret  for  the 
trips  to  town. 

It  was  not  until  1917  that  the  community  was 
ready  for  the  only  other  organized  activity  that 
makes  up  their  community  social  life.  This  was 
the  inter-denominational  Sunday  School,  which 
is  held  at  the  school  house  every  Sunday  morn- 
ing. There  are  five  tiny  churches  in  or  near  the 
district;  Porter  families  went  to  all  of  them; 
while  some  went  into  town  to  church.  The  coun- 
try churches  are  too  small  and  poor  to  conduct 
Sunday  schools  or  even  to  hold  services  every 
week;  several  of  them  are  open  only  for  a  few 
Sundays  in  the  summer.  Many  of  the  parents 
had  wanted  a  Sunday  school  for  their  children, 


128         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

and  from  time  to  time  one  or  another  of  the 
churches  had  tried  to  organize  it.  None  of  the 
attempts  had  been  really  successful;  people 
were  not  willing  to  send  their  children  to  school 
in  one  church  while  they  went  to  service  in  an- 
other several  miles  away.  But,  as  they  formed 
the  habit  of  using  the  school  building  for  all 
community  purposes,  they  realized  that  it  was 
the  proper  place  for  the  Sunday  school.  Here 
every  family  could  send  its  children  without 
rousing  prejudices  or  feeling  disloyal  to  its 
church ;  membership  would  be  large  enough  for 
different  classes  to  be  formed  suitable  to  the 
children  of  different  ages ;  all  the  children  could 
have  the  benefit  of  the  best  teachers  in  the  dis- 
trict; the  school  house  was  more  centrally  lo- 
cated than  any  church;  and  the  machinery  for 
the  management  of  the  school  already  existed  in 
the  clubs.  The  extent  to  which  the  community 
had  developed  in  the  five  years  since  Mrs.  Har- 
vey's coming  was  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  the 
Sunday  school  was  never  suggested  by  her,  but 
was  the  result  of  a  spontaneous  demand.  The 
following  petition,  signed  by  forty-three  per- 
sons, was  sent  to  the  school  board:  ''Because 
we  think  it  our  highest  duty  to  make  oppor- 
tunity for  Christian  training  for  our  children 
whose  homes  are  located  so  as  to  make  it  im- 


GROWTH  OF  THE  COMMUNITY    129 

practical  to  attend  regularly  any  Sunday  school 
already  organized,  we,  the  undersigned,  do 
hereby  respectfully  petition  the  Board  of  Direc- 
tors of  the  Porter  School  to  allow  us  the  use 
of  the  school  house  for  the  purpose  of  conduct- 
ing therein  a  non-sectarian  community  Sunday 
school."  The  school  was  organized  June  17, 
1917.  The  necessary  help  in  making  plans  and 
deciding  on  books,  lessons,  etc.,  was  obtained 
from  the  Missouri  Sunday  School  Association. 
There  are  three  grades  at  present  in  the  school, 
primary,  junior  and  senior;  the  senior  grade 
has  three  classes :  the  young  women's,  the  young 
men's,  and  the  parent's  class.  There  have  been 
as  many  as  fifty-six  pupils  at  the  school  and 
the  regular  attendance  averages  about  forty- 
five. 

The  community  has  not  needed  a  multiplica- 
tion of  clubs  and  organizations  to  hold  it  to- 
gether. Those  that  have  been  outlined  are  the 
only  formal  organizations.  They  have  been  all 
that  are  necessary,  since  each  has  developed  to 
meet  a  real  need  and  since  they  include  all  the 
people  in  the  community.  But  the  meetings  and 
entertainments  planned  by  the  clubs  form  a 
small  part  of  the  community  gatherings  that 
take  place  at  the  school  house.  We  have  seen 
how,  the  first  year,  visits  from  interesting  peo- 


130          NEW  SCHOOLS  FOE  OLD 

pie  were  made  the  occasions  for  meeting;  but 
less  and  less,  as  the  community  has  developed, 
does  it  depend  on  outside  inspiration.  The 
school  house  is  used  so  many  evenings  a  week 
to  meet  the  needs  that  originate  at  home  that  it 
is  impossible  to  add  evenings  to  listen  to  visi- 
tors, and  usually,  whenever  some  especially  in- 
teresting visitor  can  address  an  audience,  it  is 
found  that  the  school  house  is  already  open 
for  a  club  meeting.  Holidays  and  patriotic  an- 
niversaries are  the  occasions  for  most  of  the 
community  gatherings  that  originate  in  the  class 
room. 

A  Thanksgiving  party,  held  the  second  win- 
ter of  the  new  school,  is  typical  of  the  entertain- 
ments that  the  children  give.  The  children 
wished  to  commemorate  the  day  and  at  the  same 
time  to  honor  the  two  clubs  formed  that  fall, 
the  Women's  Club  and  the  Farmers'  Club. 
They  sold  tickets  which  they  had  decorated  with 
pictures  of  Plymouth  Rock  and  made  ten  dol- 
lars to  give  to  the  Women's  Club.  The  enter- 
tainment consisted  of  a  play  adapted  from  the 
Courtship  of  Miles  Standish,  and  another  little 
play  called  the  "First  Thanksgiving."  There 
was  some  music;  then  the  children  served  the 
supper  which  had  been  their  excuse  for  selling 
tickets.  They  served  only  old-fashioned  Puri- 


GROWTH  OF  THE  COMMUNITY    131 

tan  dishes  such  as  baked  beans,  pumpkin  pie, 
and  corn  bread. 

The  Fourth  of  July  is  the  occasion  for  the 
biggest  gathering  of  the  year.  An  outdoor  cele- 
bration is  held,  lasting  through  the  day.  All 
the  neighboring  districts  and  the  people  of 
Kirksville  are  invited.  The  program  is  always 
patriotic  and  usually  centers  around  some  cur- 
rent event.  In  1915  the  school  held  a  celebra- 
tion on  the  afternoon  of  Mothers*  Day.  The 
program  was  so  attractive  that  the  farmers  of 
the  district  asked  the  school  to  make  this  an  an- 
nual observance. 

During  the  school  year  of  1915-16  there  were 
nine  special  celebrations  held  at  the  school 
house.  First  the  Birthday  Party  of  the  new 
school ;  then  a  Hallowe  'en  party ;  and  at  Christ- 
mas a  real  celebration.  On  Lincoln's  Birthday 
the  Shakespeare  Reading  Circle  gave  a  party. 
The  agricultural  college  held  a  poultry  school 
in  the  building  one  evening ;  the  community  held 
its  annual  oyster  supper  another.  Mother's 
Day  and  July  Fourth  were  both  observed.  The 
agricultural  college  held  an  extension  course  in 
agriculture  at  the  school,  and  one  in  home  eco- 
nomics. The  school  band  and  chorus  used  the 
school  house  regularly  for  practice,  and  besides 
these  meetings  the  building  was  used  twenty 


132         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

times  during  the  year  either  for  meetings  of  the 
two  adult  clubs  or  for  special  meetings  and  lec- 
tures called  at  short  notice. 

The  regular  occasions  for  using  the  school 
house,  which  occur  all  the  year  around,  are,  at 
present :  Sunday  morning,  the  Community  Sun- 
day school;  Wednesday  evening,  Senior  Band 
practice ;  Saturday  afternoon  and  evening,  Jun- 
ior and  Senior  band  practice.  Semi-monthly,  on 
Thursday  evening,  the  Farmers'  Club  and  the 
Farm  Women's  Club,  and  the  Porter  School  Pig 
Club.  Once  a  month  a  parents-teachers  meet- 
ing is  held  on  Sunday  afternoon.  Often  the 
school  is  used  once  or  twice  a  week  for  special 
occasions,  such  as  lectures  by  agricultural  ex- 
perts. The  week  before  the  Fourth  of  July  the 
school  house  was  open  every  evening  of  the 
week  either  for  the  regular  meetings  and  prac- 
tice nights  or  else  for  rehearsals  for  the  Fourth 
of  July  celebration.  The  programs  are  always 
kept  simple  and  informal  enough  not  to  become 
a  burden  either  to  the  teacher  or  to  the  com- 
munity. Eefreshments  are  served  only  at  the 
parties  and  celebrations.  The  entertainments 
that  the  school  children  give  are  made  up 
largely  of  the  songs,  recitations  and  plays  from 
their  daily  class  work.  When  special  things  are 
learned,  as  for  the  Mothers '  Day  program,  they 


GROWTH  OF  THE  COMMUNITY     133 

are  not  selected  until  a  few  days  ahead  of  time, 
and  often  are  not  rehearsed  at  all.  One  of  the 
teachers  usually  offers  to  help  any  of  the  young- 
est children  in  learning  their  selections.  But 
perhaps  the  most  important  lesson  that  the 
school  has  for  other  teachers  who  wish  to  de- 
velop community  centers  in  their  rural  schools 
is  that  success  is  easy  if  the  cooperation  of  the 
district  is  gained,  and  that  an  excellent  way  to 
gain  it  is  to  go  slowly,  give  the  people  plenty  of 
time  to  become  acquainted,  and  then  to  start 
only  that  which  meets  an  obvious  and  conscious 
need. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE    SOCIAL   LIFE   OF   THE    SCHOOL 

JUST  as  the  school  is  the  proper  center  of  the 
adult  social  life  of  a  small  community,  so  it  is 
the  place  where  right  social  habits  should  be  de- 
veloped among  the  children.  Country  children 
have  just  as  many  potentialities  as  city  chil- 
dren ;  and  when  they  are  given  the  right  stimuli 
they  respond ;  the  schools  are  the  only  places  at 
present  where  they  can  get  these  stimuli.  Mrs. 
Harvey  teaches  even  the  ordinary  school  sub- 
jects so  as  to  build  up  social  habits  and  a  social 
consciousness  among  her  pupils.  A  teacher  has 
to  choose  between  covering  the  old-fashioned 
lessons  in  an  old-fashioned  way  and  teaching 
her  pupils  how  to  get  along  together  and  how 
to  fit  into  their  environment.  Mrs.  Harvey  has 
been  successful  because  she  has  worked  the  so- 
cial aim  into  terms  of  actual  lessons;  the  only 
form  in  which  it  can  be  useful  to  teachers.  She 
does  not  say  that  the  purpose  of  education  is 
to  adjust  children  to  their  environment  and 
then'  make  the  school  into  an  environment  en- 

131 


SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  SCHOOL    135 

tirely  divorced  from  anything  in  the  child's 
past  or  future  experience.  This  is  what  hap- 
pens whenever  a  teacher  confines  her  work  to 
lessons  from  text-books  and  to  drill  that  takes 
the  form  of  repetition  of  processes,  regardless 
of  their  content.  Where  text-books  are  the 
school,  all  attempts  to  teach  the  pupils  to  over- 
come their  shyness,  for  instance,  or  to  under- 
stand their  community  and  to  become  respon- 
sible members  of  it,  have  to  be  grafted  on  to  the 
routine  of  teaching  reading  and  writing.  The 
teacher  finds  herself  trying  to  manage  two  sep- 
arate schools.  This  is  an  impossible  task,  for 
the  two  schools  are  opposed  to  each  other. 

The  school  furnished  physically  and  mentally 
with  text-books  imported  from  cities  and  dis- 
tant regions  has  an  anti-social  influence.  The 
children  must  go  through  so  much  material  all 
disconnected  from  their  real  lives,  that  the  only 
way  to  get  the  work  done  is  to  separate  the 
school  into  so  many  individuals  each  working 
under  the  direction  and  absolute  authority  of 
the  teacher,  who  sets  the  task  and  drills  in  the 
technique  of  its  accomplishment  and  then  judges 
the  product.  Pupils  usually  learn  how  to  read 
and  write  and  do  arithmetic  under  this  system; 
they  memorize  gems  of  literature  and  the  coun- 
ties in  the  state  in  a  parrot-like  manner.  But 


136         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

there  is  nothing  there  to  teach  them  why  they 
are  learning  to  read  and  write,  or  the  bearing  it 
has  on  the  life  they  know  or  even  how  they  can 
use  what  they  learn.  If  the  school  is  situated 
in  an  isolated  rural  district  where  the  children 
see  nothing  at  home  or  among  the  neighbors  to 
show  them  the  uses  of  the  skill  they  acquire  at 
school,  the  chances  are  they  never  will  make 
any  practical  application  of  it.  This  is  what 
has  happened  in  thousands  of  rural  districts 
all  over  the  country.  The  changing  indus- 
trial and  economic  conditions  have  led  to  iso- 
lation and  stagnation  in  the  farmers'  homes. 
The  schools  conducted  as  if  their  lessons  had 
nothing  to  do  with  real  life  have  done  little  to 
correct  the  situation.  Consequently  many  com- 
munities are  facing  nearly  intolerable  social 
conditions  entirely  without  the  equipment  to 
change  them. 

To  Mrs.  Harvey  text-books  and  reading  and 
writing  are  the  means  for  getting  an  education, 
but  not  the  education  itself.  Education  should 
give  an  understanding  of  the  world  in  which 
the  pupil  lives  and  a  grasp  of  the  princi- 
ples on  which  life  is  organized  sufficient  to 
enable  an  individual  to  control  and  shape  his 
career.  Therefore  she  takes  for  her  school  the 
community  in  which  she  is  teaching;  not  mere 


SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  SCHOOL    137 

text-books.  These  come  in  when  needed  to  il- 
lustrate and  explain  the  lessons  of  the  com- 
munity. Her  lessons  are  always  aimed  at  the 
fundamental  understanding  of  those  things  the 
pupils  see  about  them,  and  at  their  uses  and 
possibilities.  She  teaches  her  pupils  to  be 
healthy;  to  be  honest;  to  be  able  to  support 
themselves  adequately;  to  live  pleasantly  and 
profitably  with  their  neighbors ;  and  to  be  good 
citizens;  these  are  her  real  lessons.  Reading, 
writing  and  arithmetic  are  taught  because  they 
are  necessary  for  learning  one  or  all  of  the  real 
lessons. 

Every  visitor  to  the  Porter  School  is  im- 
pressed with  the  easy,  natural  manner  of  the 
children  and  their  freedom  from  self-conscious- 
ness. The  impression  is  especially  keen  if  the 
visitors  have  been  to  other  one-room  schools, 
where  awkwardness  is  more  common  than  the 
freedom  of  the  Porter  pupils.  The  difference  is 
due  entirely  to  the  school;  the  children  and 
their  homes  were  just  like  those  in  most  rural 
districts.  Because  they  grow  up  in  homes 
where  there  is  no  social  life  and  no  training  in 
.  the  usages  of  human  intercourse,  and  where  all 
recreation  gives  them  the  role  of  spectators  at 
functions  planned  and  managed  by  others,  the 
children  naturally  come  to  think  of  themselves 


138         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOB  OLD 

as  onlookers.  They  are  at  ease  and  interested 
in  their  surroundings  only  as  long  as  they  are 
allowed  to  maintain  this  pose.  As  soon  as  re- 
sponsibility is  put  on  them  or  they  are  called 
upon  to  take  any  part  in  the  proceedings  they 
are  covered  with  confusion.  They  no  longer 
think  about  what  is  going  on  but  only  of  them- 
selves and  their  own  inadequacy.  The  result 
is  a  paralyzing  self-consciousness  that  hampers 
their  attempts  at  intercourse  and  expression  all 
their  lives  and  that  marks  them  out  as  "farm- 
ers" when  they  do  try  to  take  part  in  other 
peoples'  sociability.  It  is  the  awkward  bash- 
fulness  of  farm  dwellers  more  than  any  pecul- 
iarity of  dress  that  has  marked  them  as  the  butt 
of  so  many  jokes.  It  is  this  that  makes  them 
less  ready  than  others  in  their  speech  and  so 
less  able  to  express  themselves  in  natural,  fluent 
English. 

Since  the  social  life  of  the  young  people  in 
Porter  was  just  what  it  was  in  most  neighbor- 
hoods of  that  part  of  the  country,  Mrs.  Harvey 
knew  that  the  little  children  had  no  chanc*  to 
develop  except  as  they  met  in  school.  There, 
too  often,  the  whole  effort  of  the  teacher  is  to 
silence  expression  and  reduce  the  class  to  ma- 
chines under  the  name  of  discipline.  As  they 
grow  older  the  need  for  social  outlet  becomes  so 


SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  SCHOOL    139 

insistent  that  it  takes  the  only  form  they  have 
seen ;  aimless  trips  to  town  where  they  wander 
np  and  down  looking  in  store  windows  or  going 
to  the  movies,  uncomfortably  conscious  that 
they  are  different  from  the  people  about  them, 
and  yet  excited  by  the  life  and  movement. 

Childish  boy  and  girl  " crushes"  are  another 
substitute  for  real  recreation ;  it  is  etiquette  for 
each  to  regard  the  other  as  his  or  her  exclusive 
property,  and  to  be  jealous  and  exacting;  late 
calls  and  lonely  buggy  rides  are  the  only  way 
of  showing  devotion.  Everything  makes  for  a 
vulgar  and  premature  affair.  The  young  peo- 
ple and  the  neighbors  come  to  think  of  a  par- 
ticular boy  and  girl,  as  inevitably  linked,  and 
they  drift  into  early  marriage  merely  because 
they  have  formed  the  habit  of  going  together. 
Isolated  amusements  are  broken  at  rare  inter- 
vals by  a  party  or  dance  where  all  the  young 
people  who  are  permitted  gather  and  indulge 
in  a  wild  reaction  against  their  usual  isolation. 
Around  Porter  these  parties  had  degenerated 
to  such  rowdyism  that  the  young  people  were 
forbidden  to  go.  In  Porter  district  there  were 
none  of  these  parties,  yet  no  one  had  thought 
of  any  way  to  supply  more  wholesome  substi- 
tutes. It  is  hard  to  realize  how  completely 
vacuous  the  life  of  these  country  children  is 


140         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

until  we  remember  that  there  are  no  books,  no 
conversation  and  no  playfulness  at  home  and 
at  school  nothing  but  five  or  six-minute  recita- 
tions from  elementary  text-books.  Farm  moth- 
ers are  too  tired  when  their  work  is  done  to  read 
or  tell  stories  to  their  children  and  as  a  result 
the  children  never  know  the  child's  world  of 
Mother  Goose,  myths,  fairy  tales  and  adven- 
tures which  we  are  apt  to  assume  for  every 
child.  In  Porter  there  were  only  three  families 
where  the  children  had  ever  heard  of  Mother 
Goose.  One  day  at  school  a  little  boy  looked  at 
a  picture  of  some  cherubs  and  said:  "I  did  not 
know  that  children  had  wings."  The  only  as- 
sociation the  pupils  had  with  Good  Friday  was 
that  it  was  the  day  to  plant  potatoes.  The 
chores  they  have  to  do  at  home  are  about  the 
only  positive  constructive  element  in  their  lives, 
and  this  remains  fruitless  because  there  is  noth- 
ing in  it  that  can  appeal  to  the  children  as  their 
own  and  because  it  is  a  part  of  the  hated  and 
endless  farm  grind.  Someone  visiting  a  con- 
solidated school  in  an  isolated  region  asked  the 
principal  why  there  was  not  more  creative  work 
in  the  school  program.  He  replied:  "That  will 
have  to  come  with  the  next  generation.  When 
we  started  here  there  was  nothing ;  you  cannot 
expect  to  get  anything  out  of  them  until  you 


SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  SCHOOL    141 

have  poured  something  in;  that's  what  we  are 
doing  now." 

Methods  were  used  to  make  a  social  place  of 
the  school  which  had  worked  in  developing  the 
community.  "Cooperation"  was  preached  and 
practised  in  the  class  room  from  the  day  the 
school  opened.  The  children  had  heard  their 
parents  talking  about  the  new  school  at  home, 
and  they  had  watched  the  remodeling  of  the 
building ;  so  they  went  to  school  expecting  some- 
thing new  and  different,  keyed  up  for  some  ex- 
citing adventure.  The  first  thing  that  they  dis- 
covered was  that  every  one  was  interested  in 
the  building ;  their  fathers  had  worked  hard  on 
it,  and  the  teacher  had  plans  for  making  it  a 
still  better  place.  All  this  was  done  for  them; 
moreover,  the  building  was  given  to  them  as 
something  to  be  proud  of  and  something  for 
which  they  were  responsible. 

Mrs.  Harvey  has  always  talked  to  the  pupils 
quite  frankly  about  the  conditions  in  the  school 
and  in  the  district.  She  told  the  whole  school 
at  the  beginning  of  the  year  that  she  wanted 
them  to  learn  how  to  play  and  how  to  talk  to 
each  other  and  to  grown  people.  She  told  the 
older  children  that  by  using  the  school  and  the 
teacher  they  would  have  an  unusual  opportun- 
ity to  develop  a  social  life  among  themselves. 


142         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOB  OLD 

It  would  be  more  entertaining  and  more  profit- 
able than  any  they  had  known  before  be- 
cause it  would  have  the  support  of  their  united 
group,  would  be  arranged  just  to  give  them 
pleasure  and  recreation,  and  would  be  helped 
by  their  parents  and  the  teacher.  She  got  them 
all  to  tell  what  they  liked  to  do  and  what  they 
would  plan,  and  then  pointed  out  to  them  that 
their  desires  were  very  different  from  the  op- 
portunities they  had  come  to  accept  without 
protest,  and  that  they  were  entirely  within  their 
reach. 

The  first  winter  she  n'elped  the  children 
give  a  few  parties  in  order  to  give  them  a  taste 
of  the  kind  of  thing  they  seemed  to  want  and  to 
show  them  what  they  could  do  if  they  would  de- 
velop a  little  conscious,  purpose  and  group  re- 
sponsibility for  their  social  life.  The  first  event 
was  a  Hallowe'en  party  held  at  the  teacher's 
cottage,  but  chaperoned  by  one  of  the  mothers. 
The  children  decorated  the  house  with  au- 
tumn boughs  and  arranged  Hallowe'en  games, 
" stunts"  and  appropriate  refreshments.  The 
evening  was  a  great  success,  for  Hallowe'en 
tricks  and  games  amuse  any  group  of  whole- 
some young  people.  It  served  to  show  them 
how  easily  they  could  make  good  times  for 
themselves,  if  they  would  learn  about  the  things 


SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  SCHOOL    143 

other  people  do  to  have  good  times.  At  Christ- 
mas a  program  was  held  at  the  school  house, 
where  the  children  took  part  in  a  social  gather- 
ing held  for  the  entertainment  of  the  whole 
community.  It  was  not  long  after  this  that  the 
older  group  of  boys  and  girls  in  school  and  some 
of  those  who  had  left  school  before  Mrs.  Har- 
vey came,  formed  the  Shakespeare  Reading 
Circle.  This  organization  became  the  group 
through  which  the  teacher  worked  in  building 
up  habits  of  recreation  and  a  right  social  spirit 
for  all  the  young  people  of  the  district. 

Of  course  it  meant  a  lot  of  work  on  the  part 
of  the  teacher  to  help  these  .young  people  build 
up  a  pleasant  and  profitable  social  life,  espe- 
cially since  it  meant,  among  the  boys,  breaking 
up  habits  of  going  to  town  and  looking  for 
pleasure  at  dances  in  -cheap  country  resorts. 
But  the  children  had  bad  habits  not  because 
they  preferred  that  type  of  amusement,  but  be- 
cause they  had  never  seen  any  other;  when 
wholesome,  jolly  fun  and  really  interesting 
times  were  offered  their  natural  good  sense 
recognized  these  at  once  as  the  more  entertain- 
ing. They  offered  an  outlet  for  youthful  energy 
and  expression  and  they  were  not  followed  by  a 
day  of  headache  and  sleepiness  and  the  depres- 
sion that  always  follows  unnatural  excitement. 


144         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOE  OLD 

Mrs.  Harvey's  parties  of  the  first  winter  were 
so  successful  in  entertaining  the  young  people 
of  the  community  that  no  more  efforts  were 
necessary  to  counteract  the  bad  neighborhood 
parties  of  the  previous  years. 

The  next  task  was  to  get  the  cooperation  of 
all  the  young  people  in  building  up  throughout 
the  community  a  sentiment  for  proper  recrea- 
tion and  entertainments  for  all  the  children. 
With  this  in  view  Mrs.  Harvey  always  had  the 
members  of  the  group  help  with  the  plans  and 
arrangements  for  parties.  If  the  boys  and  girls 
had  been  allowed  to  sit  back  and  be  amused  by 
diversions  planned  and  then  managed  by  Mrs. 
Harvey  or  Miss  Crecelius  they  would  have  been 
kept  away  from  boot-legging  dances,  but  noth- 
ing more  would  have  been  accomplished.  When 
the  efforts  for  their  entertainment  ceased  they 
would  have  slipped  right  back  to  their  old  pen- 
dulum swing  of  long  periods  of  dull  isolation 
and  brief  flings  of  wild  and  artificial  gaiety. 
But  enlisting  the  aid  of  the  group  in  all  the 
plans  gradually  taught  them  how  to  amuse 
themselves  and  where  to  turn  for  ideas  and  ma- 
terial for  parties  and  recreation,  and  more  im- 
portant still  showed  them  that  everyday  life, 
school  and  work,  furnished  many  opportunities 
for  pleasure  and  recreation. 


SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  SCHOOL    145 

The  pleasant  occasions  of  the  first  winter 
served  to  rouse  a  keen  appetite  for  social  pleas- 
ure in  the  young  people,  and  laid  the  foundation 
for  the  next  step  Mrs.  Harvey  took.  Realizing 
that  the  older  group  in  the  Shakespeare  Read- 
ing Circle  would  set  standards  for  the  younger 
children,  she  suggested  to  them  that  they  make 
a  social  calendar  for  the  year,  refusing  all  in- 
vitations that  were  not  a  part  of  it.  Her  rea- 
sons for  this  were  explained.  Wholesome  play 
is  as  necessary  to  people  as  any  work  they  may 
do;  a  desire  for  fun  and  recreation  is  natural 
and  right.  But  this  group  of  young  people  had 
told  their  teacher  of  their  ambitions  to  go  to 
college  or  high  school  as  quickly  as  they  could. 
They  all  had  rather  heavy  duties  at  home  and 
had  to  spend  a  good  while  on  the  road  to  and 
from  school,  and  because  of  the  inadequacy  of 
the  old  school  they  had  more  work  to  do  to  get 
to  college  than  most  people  their  age.  The  so- 
lution which  Mrs.  Harvey  offered  them  was  to 
refuse  all  invitations  during  the  school  week 
and  devote  their  time  to  their  studies.  Then  to- 
gether they  would  arrange  a  social  calendar 
with  parties  that  would  afford  pleasure  and 
give  them  the  experiences  that  would  make 
them  as  much  at  home  with  their  cultured  city 
friends  as  they  were  with  each  other.  She  ex- 


146         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

plained  to  them  that  if  they  undertook  this 
program  it  would  be  a  point  of  honor  with  each 
member  to  live  up  to  the  condition  and  to  take 
his  share  in  promoting  the  club  parties.  She 
suggested  that  the  Circle  appoint  a  committee 
to  arrange  the  calendar  and  that  she  would  be 
glad  to  serve  as  its  adviser  and  social  arbiter. 
The  club  thought  the  matter  over  and  decided 
to  adopt  the  plan. 

The  first  calendar  included  parties  for  the 
members  of  the  Circle  alone  and  gatherings  and 
programs  which  took  in  the  whole  community. 
The  events  were  frequent  enough  to  satisfy  the 
young  people's  eagerness  for  fun  and  yet  dis- 
tributed so  that  they  would  contribute  to  the  so- 
cial life  of  the  whole  community.  The  plan  was 
so  successful  in  building  up  social  habits  and 
teaching  social  usages  and  initiative  to  the  mem- 
bers of  the  club,  that  by  the  second  winter  the 
fame  of  their  entertainments  had  spread  to  town 
and  neighboring  communities.  The  local  papers 
reported  their  doings  and  an  invitation  to  a  Por- 
ter gathering  was  an  appreciated  honor.  Some 
of  the  events  of  the  first  social  calendar  were 
a  lawn  party  at  the  teacher's  cottage  to  meet 
some  young  people  who  had  just  moved  into  the 
district;  the  third  birthday  of  the  new  school; 
an  historic  program  involving  the  whole  com- 


i 
u 


SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  SCHOOL    147 

munity  at  Thanksgiving  and  Christmas  and 
Washington-Lincoln  celebrations  at  the  school. 
New  Year's  Eve  one  of  the  girls  gave  an  even- 
ing party  at  her  house  for  which  she  sent  out 
decorated  invitations,  made  pretty  place  cards, 
decorated  the  dining-room  and  the  refreshment 
table  with  the  school  colors  and  planned  with 
another  boy  and  girl  of  the  club  a  very  charm- 
ing little  ceremony  to  welcome  in  the  new  year. 
Another  member  of  the  circle  gave  a  Hallowe'en 
party,  requesting  every  one  to  come  dressed  in 
sheets  and  then  entertaining  them  with  for- 
tunes from  a  witch's  cauldron  and  a  ghost 
dance.  Another  family,  where  there  were  thre^ 
members  of  the  club,  gave  a  surprise  party  on 
the  birthday  of  one  of  the  members ;  this  started 
with  a  supper  for  the  club  and  ended  with 
games,  puzzles,  and  prizes.  All  of  these  par- 
ties would  have  done  credit  to  the  social  life  of 
any  community  because  of  the  genuine  and  orig- 
inal nature  of  the  entertainment  they  offered; 
and  it  is  likely  that  the  teacher's  helping  hand 
could  be  traced  in  several  of  them.  But  this 
was  because  Mrs.  Harvey  wanted  to  insure  there 
being  some  real  content  in  their  amusements. 
If  this  group  were  to  set  a  standard  that  all  the 
children  in  the  school  would  follow,  it  was  im- 
portant that  they  display  imagination  and 


148         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

resourcefulness.  Their  own  school  and  home 
lives  had  been  barren  of  the  experiences  and  in- 
formation that  develop  imagination.  Since  they 
had  no  resources  within  themselves,  Mrs.  Har- 
vey at  first  had  to  supply  the  stimulus  which 
would  arouse  the  conscious  desire  and  then  give 
them  the  knowledge  which  would  enable  them  to- 
satisfy  the  desire ;  and  she  had  to  do  all  this  in 
a  way  to  develop  the  initiative  of  the  group. 

This  task,  with  that  of  building  up  a  prece- 
dent and  sentiment  for  the  other  children,  might 
have  proved  impossible  if  it  had  not  been  for 
Mrs.  Harvey 's  class-room  methods.  The  par- 
ties became  opportunities  for  the  group  to  ex- 
press and  test  out  some  of  the  things  they 
learned  in  their  daily  lessons.  At  first  the  older 
group  was  hampered  even  more  than  the  little 
children  by  their  self-consciousness  and  shy- 
ness; and  if  a  party  had  been  sprung  on  them 
before  any  headway  had  been  made  in  breaking 
down  these  habits  she  might  have  failed  in  spite 
of  the  lively  entertainment  provided.  But  from 
the  day  that  work  on  the  new  school  began 
everything  had  contributed  towards  establish- 
ing friendly,  helpful  relations  within  the  com- 
munity and  between  the  teacher  and  her  pupils. 
Many  of  the  older  group  of  boys  had  worked 
during  the  summer  with  their  fathers  on  the 


SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  SCHOOL    149 

school  building.  This  gave  them  a  good  start 
towards  the  desired  initiative  and  responsi- 
bility. Several  of  this  group  had  considered 
themselves  too  old  to  go  back  to  school,  and  they 
went  in  the  fall  not  as  regular  pupils,  but  to 
take  advantage  of  her  offer  to  help  prepare  for 
a  more  advanced  school,  or  to  catch  up  in  a 
weak  subject.  Mrs.  Harvey  did  not  undertake 
at  first  to  put  these  children  through  the  work 
of  the  grade  they  had  stopped,  but  concentrated 
on  teaching  them  to  read  and  write  easily.  She 
determined  that  no  one  should  leave  until  she 
had  given  him  the  mastery  of  those  tools  which 
would  enable  him  to  find  out  for  himself  any- 
thing he  wanted  to  know.  She  taught  these 
older  children  to  read  just  as  she  taught  the  be- 
ginners, by  giving  them  enough  to  command 
their  attention  while  the  mechanics  of  their 
reading  became  automatic.  She  showed  them 
how  to  stand  before  the  school  and  read  aloud 
a  new  passage  in  such  a  way  that  the  reader  and 
the  audience  understood  what  was  said. 

This  sounds  like  a  herculean  task  for  country 
children  fourteen  and  fifteen  years  old,  with 
years  of  bad  habits  behind  them.  The  method 
was  the  simple  one  of  teaching  children  to  read 
through  their  book  work  in  other  subjects. 
There  were  books  which  told  something  the 


150         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

pupils  wanted  to  know.  This  she  emphasized 
over  and  over;  that  the  only  way  to  read  is  to 
look  at  the  words,  see  what  they  say  and  then 
tell  it  to  the  audience.  It  was  astonishing  to 
see  how  fast  the  verbal  uncertainties  and  hesi- 
tations disappeared  and  how  the  boys  and  girls 
forgot  themselves  in  their  interest  in  telling 
their  story.  Ease  in  writing  she  believes  can 
come  only  with  much  practice,  therefore  she 
had  this  group  write  a  great  deal,  but  always 
about  things  in  which  they  were  interested. 
They  filled  note-books  with  quotations  that  ap- 
pealed to  them,  with  information  about  their 
special  interests  or  about  the  kind  of  work  they 
were  doing  at  home.  These  note-books  had  a 
permanent  value  and  this  fact  was  used  as  the 
incentive  to  a  good  handwriting.  Mrs.  Harvey 
called  their  attention  to  the  younger  classes, 
showing  how  much  more  information  the 
younger  ones  were  going  to  get  and  how  easily 
they  were  acquiring  the  tools  of  learning,  be- 
cause of  the  way  they  were  taught.  She  made 
them  realize  the  inadequacy  of  their  own  school 
days  and  explained  to  them  how  they  themselves 
could  largely  make  up  for  this  if  they  could  read 
and  write  easily.  In  this  way  she  fired  their 
ambition  to  make  up  as  far  as  possible  for  the 
lack  of  opportunities  in  the  past  by  making  the 


SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  SCHOOL    151 

most  of  every  one  that  presented  itself.  The 
fact  that  all  the  classes  went  on  in  one  room 
made  this  easier  since  the  older  classes  got  the 
benefit  of  the  younger  ones'  lessons,  and  the  lat- 
ter learned  a  great  deal  from  contact  with  their 
more  mature  brothers  and  sisters. 

It  was  through  the  self-confidence  and  enthus- 
iasm aroused  by  these  new  and  vital  lessons 
that  Mrs.  Harvey  made  her  first  gains  against 
the  awkward  manners  and  bashfulness  of  both 
old  and  young  pupils.  She  also  encouraged  any 
signs  of  initiative,  and  made  sure  that  every 
pupil  had  some  responsible  share  in  the  life  of 
the  school.  She  spent  a  great  deal  of  time  sim- 
ply talking  with  the  children,  and  she  tried  in 
every  possible  way  to  make  the  example  of  her 
own  friendly  and  pleasant  manner  speak  force- 
fully to  the  children.  Any  unusual  politeness 
or  kindness  on  the  part  of  a  pupil  she  always 
called  to  the  attention  of  the  others,  and  she  was 
equally  careful  to  point  out  the  disadvantages 
of  a  rude  or  thoughtless  act  or  word.  The  daily 
routine  of  the  school  was  arranged  to  demand 
social  adjustment  and  initiative  from  the  chil- 
dren. Mrs.  Harvey  took  part  in  everything 
and  with  a  word  of  encouragement  or  a  sug- 
gestion, kept  things  pointed  along  the  track  of 
a  frank  and  amiable  sociability. 


152         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOE  OLD 

The  few  rules  of  the  school  were  planned  to 
make  the  children  mingle  with  each  other  and 
perform  their  tasks  regularly  and  cheerfully. 
At  recess,  instead  of  leaving  the  children  to 
their  own  devices,  Mrs.  Harvey  would  go  on 
the  playground  or  into  the  basement  with  them ; 
and  if  there  were  any  idle  groups  standing 
about  or  if  the  little  children  could  find  no  room 
to  play,  she  would  show  them  new  games  or  talk 
to  them  about  some  plan  the  school  had  on  foot, 
always  emphasizing  the  possibilities  for  accom- 
plishment in  the  things  about  them. 

From  the  very  beginning  the  one  school  rule 
has  been  that  lunches  were  to  be  eaten  in  the 
school  room  instead  of  being  carried  into  cor- 
ners of  the  shed  and  playground.  The  ready 
consent  of  all  the  pupils  to  this  rule  was  gained 
before  it  was  put  into  effect,  because  Mrs.  Har- 
vey explained  to  them  the  hygienic  and  social 
advantages  to  be  gained  from  it.  She  explained 
to  them  the  effects  on  health  of  lunches  improp- 
erly selected  and  eaten  in  a  hurry  without 
proper  chewing  or  while  they  were  running 
about,  and  emphasized  the  positive  gains  to  be 
had  from  sitting  down  quietly,  eating  slowly 
and  talking,  and  above  all  of  bringing  va- 
ried foods  in  their  lunch  boxes.  She  also 
pointed  out  to  them  the  necessity  of  being  part 


SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  SCHOOL    153 

of  the  group  at  school  at  meal  time  just  as 
much  as  at  home.  The  noon  lunches  furnished 
another  opportunity  for  them  to  establish  the 
habits  of  good  society  of  which  they  all  hoped  to 
be  members,  and  which  must  become  part  of 
their  daily  life ;  good  manners  cannot  be  put  off 
and  on  like  a  best  coat,  but  are  part  of  the  in- 
dividual. 

If  the  talk  lagged  or  if  there  were  signs  of 
whisperings  between  intimates  it  was  easy  for 
the  teacher  to  bring  the  center  of  attention 
back  to  the  whole  group  by  asking  a  question 
or  telling  a  story  that  would  start  a  topic  of 
general  interest.  When  the  cold  weather  came 
the  big  boys  were  made  responsible  for  help- 
ing the  little  children  with  their  wraps  and  see- 
ing that  they  did  not  go  outdoors  until  they 
were  well  bundled  up.  A  pupil  who  was  espe- 
cially good  in  any  one  subject  was  often  asked 
to  teach  some  of  the  younger  children ;  and  they, 
in  turn,  were  encouraged  to  go  to  the  big  chil- 
dren with  their  questions  and  problems.  The 
result  was  that  the  older  pupils  took  a  real  in- 
terest in  the  progress  of  the  beginners  and  felt 
responsible  for  their  comfort  and  good  conduct 
in  school.  By  talking  with  them  all  about  every- 
day happenings  and  the  things  that  went  on 
outside  the  school,  Mrs.  Harvey  soon  taught 


154         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

them  to  enjoy  each  other's  good  fortune,  tri- 
umphs, and  successes. 

Mrs.  Harvey  had  a  great  deal  to  accomplish 
quickly  if  she  was  to  succeed  with  the  older 
group.  Therefore,  she  concentrated  with  them 
on  the  lessons  and  experiences  that  would 
develop  their  self-confidence  and  at  the  same 
time  give  them  the  mastery  of  the  tools  they 
would  need:  reading  and  writing,  to  find  out 
things  for  themselves.  She  had  time  only  to 
set  them  on  the  right  track  and  to  arouse  their 
ambitions  by  showing  them  what  was  possible, 
and  then  trust  that  they  would  want  to  do  the 
rest  for  themselves.  But  with  the  younger  chil- 
dren she  had  an  opportunity  not  only  to  rouse 
their  social  sense  and  to  direct  it  to  fruitful 
channels,  but  to  give  them  what  she  thought  was 
the  very  best  education  possible  with  what  she 
had  at  hand.  In  doing  this  she  has  followed  the 
same  methods  that  she  used  with  the  older 
group.  She  makes  use  of  everything  that  hap- 
pens in  the  class  room  and  in  Porter  for  sub- 
ject matter,  and  everything  is  planned  to  de- 
velop the  individual's  ability  to  take  his  place 
in  society.  The  atmosphere  in  the  school  is  a 
continuous  social  lesson  in  itself,  and  Mrs.  Har- 
vey and  Miss  Crecelius  bring  out  the  larger  sig- 
nificance of  all  the  lessons.  The  morning  ex- 


SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  SCHOOL    155 

ercises  serve  as  a  clearing  house  for  the  school 
and  community.  The  pupils  keep  each  other 
acquainted  with  what  they  are  doing  in  their 
classes  and  with  the  things  of  common  interest 
that  are  happening  in  the  district.  Mrs.  Har- 
vey keeps  the  school  in  touch  with  the  world 
outside  Porter  by  telling  the  children  what  is 
going  on  and  by  having  them  commemorate  hol- 
idays and  great  deeds  or  great  men.  Such  ex- 
ercises are  perhaps  the  most  powerful  single 
element  in  the  school  in  building  up  a  feeling 
of  membership  in  and  responsibility  to  a  neigh- 
borhood and  a  nation.  But  any  unusual  occur- 
rence is  made  use  of  both  for  giving  drill  in 
reading  and  writing  and  to  increase  the  chil- 
dren's power  to  cope  with  the  isolating  country 
conditions.  When  the  State  University  is  using 
the  school  building  for  a  branch  short  course 
the  little  children  go  to  the  teacher's  cottage  or 
to  a  neighbor's  house  for  lessons  and,  after- 
wards, always  write  letters  of  appreciation  to 
their  hostess.  These  letters  are  individual, 
each  pupil  says  what  he  wants ;  the  work  makes 
an  excellent  exercise  in  spelling  and  writing, 
besides  teaching  the  children  to  appreciate 
what  is  done  for  them.  They  also  talk  over 
their  experiences  there  and  the  words  they 
use  are  written  on  the  board  and  form  the 


156         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

basis  for  additional  spelling  and  reading  les- 
sons. 

The  every-day  experiences  of  the  children  in 
and  ont  of  the  class  room  are  made  to  furnish 
the  material  for  practically  all  the  drill  that  is 
necessary  for  the  mastery  of  the  tools  of  learn- 
ing. In  this  way  the  children  learn  how  to  use 
in  their  every-day  living  the  knowledge  they  get 
in  school.  Reading,  writing,  arithmetic  and 
geography  are  learned  as  helps  for  the  real 
lessons  of  the  school :  learning  how  to  adjust  to 
the  community  in  its  social,  economic  and  na- 
tional phases.  A  Christmas  program  at  the 
school  house  provides  matter  for  reading  and 
writing  lessons  for  a  number  of  days,  and  even 
more  valuable  than  this,  the  children  are  in- 
creasing their  knowledge  of  literature,  learning 
to  conduct  themselves  before  an  audience  and 
learning  the  value  and  beauty  of  doing  some- 
thing for  others.  The  work  of  the  poultry  and 
pig  clubs  involves  arithmetic,  bookkeeping,  busi- 
ness letter  writing,  and  record  keeping.  When 
this  work  is  done  as  regular  lessons,  the  children 
learn  faster  and  remember  better  than  if  they 
were  going  through  the  same  processes  about 
things  that  were  unrelated  to  their  interests. 
The  opportunities  to  teach  geography  are  end- 
less when  the  teacher  is  keeping  her  school  in- 


SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  SCHOOL    157 

formed  about  current  events  and  showing  them 
the  relation  of  the  industrial  life  of  their  region 
to  the  life  of  the  country.  It  is  this  method  of 
attack  rather  than  that  of  set  lessons  that  makes 
the  school  a  social  place ;  a  place  where  each  in- 
dividual comes  in  contact  with  every  other  and 
learns  to  hold  his  own  and  at  the  same  time  to 
respect  the  needs  of  the  others  and  of  the  group 
as  a  whole. 

This  teaching  has  naturally  resulted  in  defi- 
nite expressions  of  the  social  feelings  of  the 
group.  We  have  seen  how  the  older  groups 
sought  opportunities  to  give  entertainments 
where  they  could  meet  together  and  enjoy  each 
other.  The  reaction  of  the  younger  children 
was  naturally  less  organized,  but  it  was  ex- 
pressed by  the  readiness  with  which  they  con- 
tributed their  share  towards  creating  an  atmo- 
sphere of  mutual  respect  and  sympathy  in  the 
school.  When  Mrs.  Harvey  came  to  Porter  the 
children's  lives  were  so  barren  that  she  had 
not  only  to  show  them  how  to  do  things,  but 
what  things  it  was  possible  for  them  to  do. 
They  even  had  to  learn  what  there  was  that  they 
could  want.  The  first  and  easiest  thing  they 
learned  was  that  they  could  have  a  good  time 
playing  together.  But  if  these  good  times  were 
to  become  permanent  and  contribute  towards 


158         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOB  OLD 

establishing  a  lasting  community  they  must  be 
reinforced  by  interests  that  had  a  somewhat 
more  constructive  purpose.  She  looked  for 
means  of  recreation  that  would  bring  intellec- 
tual and  spiritual  development  with  it.  She 
found  two  lines  of  attack  and  has  followed  them 
both.  One  was  the  interest  that  the  children 
took  in  agriculture.  From  the  first  the  children 
were  eager  for  everything  that  helped  them  to 
understand  their  parents'  occupation  and  that 
put  some  content  into  the  work  they  had  to  do 
at  home.  The  second  was  the  intense  fondness 
for  music  shown  by  the  whole  community. 

As  Mrs.  Harvey  watched  the  people  one  night 
she  realized  that  their  love  of  music  could  be 
made  a  strong  force  in  holding  the  community 
together  and  in  developing  the  possibilities  of 
community  life  which  she  saw  there.  Music 
had  always  found  a  place  in  Mrs.  Harvey's 
classes  because  she  believed  it  to  be  an  excellent 
method  of  developing  the  finer  feelings  and  a 
good  critical  and  appreciative  sense  in  the  chil- 
dren. She  had  encouraged  one  of  the  mothers 
in  her  efforts  to  obtain  an  organ  which  could  be 
loaned  to  the  Porter  School  the  first  winter,  and 
she  had  had  the  school  sing  in  a  body  from  the 
first  day.  The  early  singing  was  a  big  help  in 
overcoming  the  shyness  of  the  children.  She 


SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  SCHOOL    159 

taught  them  good  songs  with  simple  melodies 
and  words  that  would  appeal  to  children,  and 
then  by  example  and  suggestion  she  trained 
them  to  sing  easily  and  with  expression.  She 
never  makes  the  mistake  of  urging  them  to 
make  a  lot  of  noise,  so  their  singing  has  none 
of  that  harsh  and  strained  quality  that  is  com- 
mon in  country  schools.  They  sing  as  if  they 
enjoyed  it,  and  because  they  do  enjoy  it.  The 
songs  have  helped  a  lot  in  building  up  a  feel- 
ing of  unity  and  community  spirit.  When  the 
children  had  learned  to  sing  together  easily  they 
learned  some  of  the  Community  Center  Songs, 
written  and  distributed  by  the  Bureau  of  Edu- 
cation at  Washington.  She  and  Miss  Crecelius 
have  written  for  some  popular  air,  verses  about 
some  of  the  most  stirring  events  in  the  history 
of  the  new  school,  and  these  the  children  have 
learned  with  the  greatest  eagerness  and  sung 
them  as  a  surprise  for  their  parents  at  some 
community  gathering. 

When  Mrs.  Harvey  saw  the  touching  hunger 
of  the  community  for  music  she  was  determined 
to  find  a  way  by  which  they  could  all  hear  good 
music  and  learn  to  play  enough  so  that  they 
could  have  some  music  in  their  homes.  The 
singing  was  a  splendid  exercise  for  the  chil- 
dren and  very  valuable  in  rousing  group  en- 


160         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

thusiasm  and  a  feeling  of  community  solidarity, 
but  just  because  it  must  be  a  social  pastime  for 
most  she  thought  it  should  be  supplemented  by 
teaching  which  the  children  could  use  for  their 
individual  enjoyment.  It  was  not  until  the 
spring  of  her  third  year  at  Porter  that  she  was 
able  to  launch  the  two  plans  she  had  for  the 
musical  education  of  the  district.  Up  to  this 
time  she  was  preparing  for  the  work  by  devel- 
oping the  singing  and  encouraging  both  parents 
and  pupils  in  their  musical  interests  and  ambi- 
tions. When  she  had  first  suggested  the  possi- 
bility of  a  community  band  to  the  older  boys, 
they  all  wanted  to  belong  to  it,  but  saw  many 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  organizing.  Mrs.  Har- 
vey waited  until  she  felt  that  the  difficulties 
could  be  met  and  the  boys  had  developed  enough 
confidence  to  be  able  to  manage  the  band  them- 
selves. In  the  early  spring  of  1915  she  sug- 
gested that  they  hold  a  meeting  and  ask  the 
leader  of  the  Kirksville  band  to  help  them  or- 
ganize. Eighteen  boys  joined  the  band,  among 
them  those  who  had  recently  left  school,  and 
adopted  a  constitution  which  called  for  an  ex- 
clusive membership  and  the  joint  sharing  of 
expenses.  The  purpose  of  the  band  as  stated  in 
the  constitution  was:  "to  promote  the  musical 
and  social  interests  of  its  members  and  the  com- 


SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  SCHOOL    161 

munity  in  general. ' '  The  teacher  believed  in  the 
educational  value  of  his  work  and  set  a  mini- 
mum price  for  lessons ;  he  arranged  with  a  firm 
for  the  rental  of  instruments  with  the  privilege 
of  applying  the  rent  toward  their  purchase 
price.  The  boys  took  turns  bringing  him  to  and 
from  town  and  so  saved  the  expense  of  trans- 
portation. At  first  the  boys  were  somewhat  dis- 
mayed when  they  realized  that  they  could  not 
arrange  for  two  lessons  a  week  without  using 
Saturday  nights  for  one  of  them,  for  in  spite  of 
the  good  times  they  had  at  the  Porter  gather- 
ings they  felt  that  life  would  be  dull  without  an 
occasional  Saturday  night  in  town.  But  they 
were  so  eager  for  the  band  and  for  the  experi- 
ence of  belonging  to  a  club  which  was  all  theirs 
and  which  they  could  develop  as  they  chose  that 
they  agreed  to  meet  Saturdays. 

The  band  has  had  a  harder  struggle  than  any 
other  organization  in  Porter  in  establishing  it- 
self. This  was  not  because  it  did  not  have  the 
support  of  the  school  and  the  community,  nor 
yet  because  they  did  not  enjoy  practicing,  but 
because  this  was  the  first  opportunity  this  group 
had  ever  had  to  try  out  their  ability  as  organ- 
izers and  because  the  practical  difficulties  of 
distance,  weather  and  expense  were  always  in- 
troducing some  new  stumbling  block.  At  one 


162         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

time  the  organization  was  divided  into  two 
groups  each  struggling  for  control  and  each  led 
by  a  boy  who  was  overanxious  to  try  his  new- 
found powers.  For  a  time  the  band  member- 
ship dwindled  to  six,  but  the  boys'  interest  in 
the  work  overcame  their  personal  ambitions  and 
antagonisms  and  drew  them  back  one  by  one. 
The  first  public  appearance  of  the  band  was  at 
the  Fourth  of  July  celebration  in  the  summer  of 
1915,  just  three  months  after  their  first  lesson. 
The  boys  did  so  well  at  this  meeting  that  they 
got  engagements  for  gatherings  in  neighboring 
districts  and  earned  enough  money  to  pay  for 
their  lessons  all  through  the  next  winter,  and 
to  buy  six  instruments  for  the  organization. 
Since  then,  when  the  treasury  has  become  de- 
pleted for  a  time,  a  talented  member  of  the  band 
has  been  elected  director  and  practice  has  gone 
on.  At  another  time  when  they  were  afraid  the 
membership  was  falling  off  because  the  novelty 
had  worn  away,  some  of  the  boys  conceived  the 
idea  of  asking  the  older  girls  of  the  community 
to  join,  and  now  the  band  has  twenty-two  mem- 
bers. The  girls  have  proved  to  be  the  touch 
that  was  needed  to  firmly  establish  the  perman- 
ency of  the  band  and  for  the  past  two  years 
practice  and  lessons  have  gone  on  regularly 
once  or  twice  a  week ;  the  newcomers  show  them- 


t/) 


SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  SCHOOL    163 

selves  just  as  capable  on  the  wind  instruments 
as  the  boys.  All  the  members  now  own  their 
own  instruments.  While  their  playing  may  not 
have  the  highest  technique  and  subtilty  of  ex- 
pression, it  is  tuneful;  the  music  selected  is 
good,  and  their  teacher  has  taught  them  to  play 
as  a  unit.  The  Saturday-night-in-town  habit 
has  gradually  disappeared  in  the  district,  and 
since  the  girls  joined  the  band  no  one  has  com- 
plained of  Saturday  night  practice. 

To  see  the  group  of  young  people  at  a  lesson 
is  to  be  converted  to  Mrs.  Harvey's  ideas  about 
country  life.  Attendance  is  nearly  always  com- 
plete and  everyone  works  with  earnestness  and 
enthusiasm,  trying  to  master  his  part  and  bring 
out  the  meaning  of  the  selection.  After  the 
practice  there  is  a  short  business  meeting  to 
make  plans  and  arrange  finances.  The  mere 
financing  of  a  band  of  twenty-two  members  has 
been  a  task  that  has  taught  the  group  how  to 
plan  and  carry  through  an  undertaking,  and  has 
shown  them  again  the  value  of  cooperation.  The 
fact  that  the  band  has  had  difficulties  and  has 
adjusted  personal  differences  and  weathered 
bankruptcy  has  done  a  great  deal  to  increase  the 
faith  of  the  whole  community  in  their  ability  to 
carry  through  a  project.  If  the  band,  made  up 
of  inexperienced  and  hot-headed  young  people, 


164         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

has  succeeded  in  the  face  of  many  discourage- 
ments, they  realize  that  anything  that  has  a 
foundation  in  the  needs  of  the  district  can  be 
made  to  succeed. 

The  band  has  established  itself  musically,  as 
well  as  an  integral  part  of  the  community.  The 
entire  county  looks  to  it  as  an  asset.  During  the 
past  year  there  has  been  scarcely  a  patriotic 
rally  or  drive  for  which  they  have  not  been 
asked  to  play.  Their  value  outside  the  district 
has  been  still  further  demonstrated,  by  a  con- 
tribution which  sets  them  on  their  feet  finan- 
cially by  insuring  two  lessons  a  week  through 
the  entire  year. 

The  other  plan  to  give  the  community  oppor- 
tunities to  develop  its  musical  interests  was  a 
cooperative  arrangement  for  piano  lessons 
which  enabled  all,  instead  of  a  favored  few, 
to  take  them.  When  school  closed  in  the 
spring  of  1915,  the  piano  class  was  organized. 
A  teacher  was  engaged  who  had  herself  grown 
up  in  the  country  and  who  was  spending  her 
summer  at  home  in  a  nearby  district.  She  came 
to  Porter  twice  a  week  throughout  the  summer 
and  gave  lessons  to  all  the  children  who  had 
joined  her  class.  One  day  she  spent  at  the 
school  house  and  had  pupils  from  eight  in  the 
morning  until  four  in  the  afternoon,  the  other 


SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  SCHOOL    165 

she  taught  for  half  a  day,  giving  lessons  to  the 
children  who  lived  a  long  way  from  the  school 
house ;  one  of  the  farmers  lent  his  piano  for  all 
the  pupils  in  that  neighborhood.  The  school 
house  was  open  all  day  for  practicing  and  there 
was  a  regular  schedule  of  practice  hours  which 
the  children  followed.  At  the  end  of  the  sum- 
mer the  teacher  held  a  recital  in  Kirksville  for 
her  Porter  class ;  most  of  the  pupils  had  made 
such  good  progress  during  the  summer  that 
they  were  able  to  play  something  that  day.  The 
parents  and  the  children  were  very  proud  of 
the  fact  that  they  had  done  so  well  that  their 
teacher  wanted  them  to  play  at  one  of  her  town 
recitals,  and  Mrs.  Harvey  felt  that  she  had  es- 
tablished once  more  the  fact  that  country  chil- 
dren can  do  as  well  as  any  if  they  are  given  the 
right  chance.  This  is  a  lesson  that  she  never 
fails  to  point  to  when  the  community  has  scored 
some  new  success ;  because  she  feels  that  it  is  a 
lesson  the  children  and  their  parents  must  learn, 
since  the  right  chances  have  been  lacking  so  long 
that  the  people  themselves  have  come  to  think 
that  they  are  not  capable  of  anything  but  the 
dull,  empty  life  they  have  become  used  to.  The 
music  lessons  have  not  gone  on  since  that  first 
summer,  but  that  is  because  a  succession  of  crop 
failures  has  forced  the  farmers  of  that  region 


166         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

to  shut  down  on  all  luxuries,  and  many  homes  in 
Porter  are  looking  forward  to  continuing  the 
lessons  as  soon  as  conditions  justify  it.  But 
unlike  so  many  city  children,  the  Porter  pupils 
have  managed  to  keep  up  a  certain  amount  of 
practicing;  the  lessons  were  an  event  and  an 
enriching  experience  in  their  lives,  and  they 
have  been  determined  to  keep  what  they  gained 
that  summer.  In  one  family  the  two  children 
became  so  interested  in  their  lessons  that  they 
persuaded  their  parents  to  let  them  spend  the 
money  they  made  from  their  poultry  to  rent  a 
piano.  And,  although  they  have  had  no  lessons 
except  the  casual  help  their  mother  gave  them 
for  three  years,  they  still  rent  their  piano  with 
the  same  enthusiasm  they  showed  at  first,  and 
when  the  poultry  business  gets  so  bad  that  they 
cannot  make  all  the  rent  money,  they  borrow 
or  earn  in  some  other  way  so  that  they  will  not 
have  to  give  up  their  practicing. 

The  other  organizations  among  the  children 
have  had  a  more  utilitarian  purpose:  that  of 
making  better  and  richer  farmers.  But  they 
have  always  been  organized  and  conducted  in 
the  same  way.  Mrs.  Harvey  has  not  suggested 
them  until  she  felt  sure  that  the  community  was 
ready  to  recognize  their  value  and  undertake  the 
work  involved  in  supporting  them.  Then  she 


SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  SCHOOL    167 

has  helped  the  children  with  the  plans  and  ar- 
rangements, and  launched  the  organization  in 
such  a  way  that  its  running  would  be  as  nearly 
automatic  as  possible  and  the  children  them- 
selves would  have  to  take  the  responsibility  for 
the  continuous  work  involved.  Mrs.  Harvey 
does  her  share  towards  keeping  the  clubs  going 
by  teaching  in  such  a  way  as  to  continue  devel- 
oping the  initiative  and  ambition  of  the  pupils, 
and  to  supply  the  necessary  background  of 
knowledge  to  make  their  self-confidence  effec- 
tive. 


CHAPTER  VII 

ETHICS  AND  THE  SOCIAL  SCHOOL 

IT  is  generally  recognized  that  there  are  just 
as  many  demoralizing  factors  in  country  life 
as  in  city  life.  There  is  the  rural  slum  to  com- 
bat as  well  as  the  city  slum.  But  in  the  country 
the  problem  is  more  social  and  moral  than 
economic  and  industrial.  Where  ideals  are  not 
high  and  where  incentives  of  family  feeling  and 
pride  are  lacking,  the  isolation  of  the  country 
lowers  standards  and  lets  down  bars.  There 
is  no  one  to  see  and  no  force  of  public  opinion 
to  prevent  lax  habits  and  animal  instincts  from 
gradually  getting  the  upper  hand.  The  result 
is  bound  to  be  excesses  of  one  sort  or  another. 
If  active  vice  does  not  spring  up,  shiftlessness 
and  demoralization  of  personal  habits  will.  The 
extreme  of  this  is  seen  in  sparsely  settled  parts 
of  the  country  such  as  sections  of  the  Oklahoma 
prairies  where  farm  cabins  are  miles  apart. 
Even  at  midday  the  floors  are  bestrewn  with 
women,  with  or  without  children,  sleeping 
soundly  in  utter  oblivion  of  tasks  and  responsi- 

168 


ETHICS  AND  THE  SOCIAL  SCHOOL    169 

bilities;  everything  falling  to  pieces  and  un- 
cared  for;  the  house  in  a  litter,  flies  swarming, 
no  gardens,  no  chickens,  life  reduced  to  its  low- 
est terms.  There  is  nothing  to  break  the  monot- 
ony of  the  featureless  plain  except  the  return 
of  the  men  from  work  at  evening.  This  is  the 
zero  point  to  which  farm  life  tends  when  isola- 
tion kills  the  social  spirit.  There  is  neither 
interest  to  make  action  nor  a  public  opinion  to 
guide  that  action. 

Isolation  is  apt  to  exert  an  anti-social  in- 
fluence even  on  the  moral  standards  of  farm  re- 
gions where  ideas  of  integrity,  personal  virtue, 
and  moral  responsibility  are  the  highest.  Ex- 
change of  ideas  and  opinions  and  all  amenities 
of  life  are  reduced  to  a  minimum.  Intolerance 
results,  and  grows  and  flourishes  because  the 
free  intercouse  which  holds  it  in  check  is  lack- 
ing. Each  household  thinks  its  ways  and  opin- 
ions are  the  only  right  ones  and  a  vast  import- 
ance comes  to  be  attached  to  the  minutiae  of  be- 
lief. Tiny  differences  in  dogma  or  even  in 
personal  habits  are  looked  upon  as  dangerous 
moral  symptoms.  It  is  easy  for  neighbors  to 
become  over-critical  and  suspicious  when  moral 
codes  are  developed  in  such  detail  that  people 
become  bigoted.  A  holier-than-thou  feeling 
grows  up  which  serves  to  accentuate  the 


170         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

isolation  that  first  caused  it.  However  firm 
individual  probity  may  be  in  snch  com- 
munities, the  normal  progress  of  society 
along  the  lines  that  dominate  at  present,  social 
welfare  and  good  citizenship,  is  nearly  impos- 
sible. A  highly  respectable  district  boasting  five 
varieties  of  one  sect  besides  all  the  usual  re- 
ligious denominations  will  be  shy  on  many  of  the 
more  important  moral  qualities.  The  problem 
of  developing  a  true  country  morality  resolves 
itself  into  the  problem  of  developing  a  commun- 
ity life. 

It  is  recognized  to-day  that  a  moral  life  is  a 
socialized  life.  Not  so  long  ago,  in  the  days  of 
Puritan  principles  and  personal  uprightness, 
people  were  writing  books  on  moral  training  as 
if  it  were  a  thing  apart  from  any  form  of  edu- 
cation. But  our  progress  in  psychology  and 
growth  in  social  unity  has  changed  our  point  of 
view  in  regard  to  morals.  Even  when,  through 
emotion  and  enthusiasm,  the  morality  of  our 
grand-parents  avoided  a  mechanical  rule  of 
conduct,  we  see  that  it  was  shut  in  by  its  self- 
consciousness  and  lack  of  social  sympathy  and 
imagination.  This  is  a  commonplace  to  the 
pedagogue,  but  is  still  a  matter  of  confused 
speculation  to  the  layman.  But  even  he  has 
noted  how  lifelong  habits  of  rectitude  may  be 


ETHICS  AND  THE  SOCIAL  SCHOOL    171 

shattered  later  in  life  if  the  will  is  "out  of 
kilter";  when  the  whole  man  is  not  engaged  in 
some  absorbing,  purposeful  activity.  Example, 
the  layman  knows,  may  be  effective  in  estab- 
lishing early  habits ;  sentiment  and  culture  may 
foster  an  appreciation  of  nice  conduct ;  but  these 
are  merely  auxiliary  and  may  not  of  themselves 
be  relied  upon  to  make  character  or  stand  a 
crisis.  For  there  must  be  a  purpose  strong 
enough  to  unify  all  mental  life.  When  once 
it  is  commonly  recognized  that  there  is  a  basic 
truth  in  the  old  adage  about  Satan  finding  mis- 
chief for  idle  hands,  and  that  it  is  the  active 
pursuit  of  a  purpose  that  develops  character, 
misconduct  will  be  recognized  as  more  the  re- 
sult of  external  circumstances  and  less  due  to 
native  viciousness. 

It  is  for  the  synthesizing  of  activity  on  the 
basis  of  social  interest  that  Mrs.  Harvey 's 
school  is  so  remarkable.  A  community  is  well 
on  its  way  to  becoming  socialized  when  its  chil- 
dren are  rebuilding,  adapting,  and  beautifying 
their  school  house ;  when  they  are  promoting  a 
better  community  life  by  making  gardens  and 
raising  chickens ;  when  they  are  learning  ways 
to  make  life  less  arduous  and  richer  for  all, 
such  as  water  systems,  labor-saving  devices, 
cold  frames,  canning  and  preserving ;  when  they 


172         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOE  OLD 

have  healthy  and  stimulating  recreation  and 
abundant  social  intercourse,  with  music,  literary 
clubs,  and  dramatic  representations ;  when  they 
learn  to  feel  loyalty  to  school  and  family ;  when 
they  can  rejoice  in  each  other's  triumphs  and 
success;  when  they  are  made  to  know  that  in 
proportion  to  their  value  to  the  community  it 
will  look  out  for  their  educational  equipment 
and  for  their  future.  Further,  when  sacrifices 
are  made  in  order  to  give  the  older  children  spe- 
cial attention  to  compensate  for  their  meager 
past ;  when  the  university  shows  interest  in  their 
work  and  sends  men  to  talk  to  them ;  when  short 
courses  become  annual  affairs  and  a  local  farm- 
er donates  land  for  experimentation;  when 
parents  are  made  to  realize  that  laxity  makes 
trouble  for  the  whole  community,  then  that  com- 
munity has  made  a  long  step  in  the  development 
of  the  possibilities  of  its  environment  and  in  the 
establishing  of  a  public-spirited  citizenship. 
Mrs.  Harvey's  work  is  simplified  a  thousand- 
fold by  her  point  of  view.  It  is  not  necessary 
for  her  to  consider  at  length  how  to  meet  the 
several  and  separate  problems  of  vulgarity,  de- 
ceit, unfairness,  for,  as  a  social  motive,  each 
ethical  problem  has  the  approach  and  may  be 
met  when  it  comes  with  the  same  question :  is  it 
for  the  good  of  all?  is  it  social  justice?  With 


ETHICS  AND  THE  SOCIAL  SCHOOL    173 

the  repetition  of  this  question  the  children  and 
the  community  find  a  gauge  to  measure  every 
value. 

Mrs.  Harvey  uses  every  conceivable  means  to 
effect  her  ends.  She  also  realizes  the  import- 
ance of  the  modern  emphasis  on  instincts :  that 
human  desires  arise  from  age-old  impulse,  not 
from  conscious  purpose.  She  tries  to  harness 
these  instincts  to  social  purpose.  The  instinct 
for  creation,  for  example,  although  in  its  aim 
social,  may  in  its  action  show  a  very  individual- 
istic tendency.  Where  only  an  occasional  child 
is  allowed  to  develop  it  he  has  been  conceded  the 
right  of  way.  But  where  the  active  mental 
forces  in  every  child  are  released  subordination 
to  a  social  principle  becomes  imperative.  Mrs. 
Harvey  effects  this  subordination  by  encourag- 
ing group  construction  and  by  the  constantly 
applied  standard  of  the  good  of  the  whole  com- 
munity. 

While  Mrs.  Harvey  recognizes  that  in  a  com- 
munity whose  active  impulses  have  been  so  long 
asleep  it  is  the  economic  and  social  processes 
that  can  be  relied  upon  to  make  initiative,  yet 
she  sees  that  love  of  beauty  and  order,  for  in- 
stance, or  respect  for  good  workmanship  and 
completed  work  are  valuable  mental  assets. 
Much  of  the  work  is  intentionally  sentimental, 


174         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

because  of  the  necessity  to  wake  up  the  imagi- 
nation and  impulses  of  the  children.  But  the 
sentiment  is  never  false ;  a  topic  for  the  morn- 
ing talk,  a  song  or  a  story  are  never  chosen  be- 
cause they  are  merely  sentimental,  but  wher- 
ever there  are  possibilities  for  emotion  and 
honest  sentiment  they  are  brought  out.  The 
"Country  Girl's  Creed,"  which  the  whole  school 
knows  by  heart,  dwells  on  pride  in  the  quiet- 
ness and  beauty  of  the  country,  on  the  making 
of  a  home  and  the  community  as  part  of  a  home, 
and  helpfulness  and  joy,  on  freedom  and  air, 
sunshine  and  life-giving  soil,  songs  of  birds  and 
insects,  wind  and  rain,  the  spirit  of  growth, 
pride  in  children  as  the  hope  of  the  future,  hon- 
est work  and  productive  yield.  The  "  Country 
Boy's  Creed"  and  the  " Farmer's  Creed"  are 
familiar  to  the  school  as  well,  and  they  empha- 
size the  spiritual  value  of  recognizing  the 
beauty  of  country  life  and  of  work  well  done  in 
similar  terms.  But  these  creeds  have  contribu- 
ted to  the  development  of  the  community  not 
because  the  children  have  learned  them  by  heart 
in  school,  but  because  they  have  been  so  taught 
that  when  they  did  learn  them  the  sentiments 
they  expressed  roused  emotion  in  the  learners. 
Better  farms,  permanent  families  and  the 
beauty  of  nature  mean  nothing  as  words ;  people 


ETHICS  AND  THE  SOCIAL  SCHOOL    175 

must  know  what  a  good  farm  is,  what  are  the 
advantages  of  permanent  homes  over  their  old 
shifting  and  shiftless  ways ;  and  they  must  lis- 
ten to  birds  and  look  at  sunsets  before  the 
creeds  can  accomplish  their  purpose.  But  when 
a  start  has  been  made  in  a  life  of  the  right  kind 
there  is  great  value  in  anchoring  it  by  giving 
expression  to  its  appropriate  sentiments  and 
emotions.  Mrs.  Harvey  has  done  all  that,  for 
she  knows  that  however  sound  the  control  of 
material  things  it  cannot  be  a  permanent  gain 
unless  the  imagination,  aesthetic  appreciation 
and  aspirations  are  enlisted  to  support  it. 
Therefore,  she  misses  no  chance  to  call  atten- 
tion to  the  inspiration  that  comes  from  a  life 
in  touch  with  nature  and  its  laws.  The  songs 
they  sing  tell  of  neighborliness,  of  continuity 
with  a  past,  of  a  common  roof  and  a  common 
weal,  of  the  need  of  friends,  beauty  and  kind- 
ness in  life.  The  leaven  that  this  teaching  has 
been  in  the  community  is  shown  by  the  organi- 
zation of  the  community  Sunday  school  by 
the  parents.  They  wanted  the  school  be- 
cause they  had  come  to  see  the  need  and 
value  of  the  conscious  emphasis  of  the  senti- 
mental and  ethical  side  of  life.  They  know  that 
these  forces  all  make  for  a  stable  future, 
healthy  homes,  busy  and  happy  children,  and 


176         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

the  faith  of  the  individual  in  the  resources 
within  himself. 

Mrs.  Harvey's  favorite  expression  in  describ- 
ing any  one  of  her  pedagogical  methods  is: 
'  *  suit  the  procedure  to  the  occasion. ' '  The  great 
value  of  this  method  is  especially  apparent  in 
developing  the  ethical  and  aesthetic  qualities  of 
children.  In  the  rehabilitation  of  the  school 
house  she  was  not  only  able  to  enlist  the  cooper- 
ation of  the  parents  and  make  the  enterprise  a 
social  project  at  the  outset ;  but  in  bringing  or- 
der out  of  chaos,  cleanness  out  of  filth,  fitness 
and  adaptation  to  use  out  of  irrelevancy  and 
disorganization,  and  good  taste  out  of  rampant 
ugliness,  she  initiated  an  appreciation  for  crea- 
tion, for  fitness  of  means  to  an  end  and  for 
soundness  of  workmanship  in  objects  which  are 
to  continue  in  service.  The  task  of  beautifying 
the  old  plant  to  present  and  growing  needs  be- 
came at  once  the  organizing  factor  not  only  for 
social  motives,  but  for  creative  motives  and 
standards  of  taste.  The  canons  of  taste  once 
recognized  as  worth  working  for,  once  raised  to 
the  level  of  consciousness,  are  never  permitted 
to  lapse.  Mrs.  Harvey  and  her  assistants  never 
accept  careless,  sloppy  work.  They  set  the  ex- 
ample of  being  always  neat  in  person  and  call 
attention  to  matters  of  taste  and  suitability  in 


ETHICS  AND  THE  SOCIAL  SCHOOL    177 

the  children's  clothes  and  in  those  of  visitors. 
But  a  spirit  of  fun  and  enthusiasm  is  injected 
into  all  of  this.  The  children  are  encouraged  to 
dress  well  and  to  dress  up  for  social  gatherings, 
to  decorate  the  school  and  to  enjoy  every  bit  of 
beauty  they  can  fashion.  Public  opinion  on 
these  matters  is  created  in  the  school  room  and 
appealed  to  without  unnecessarily  wounding 
sensibilities  by  naming  individuals.  Self-re- 
spect is  developed  with  care  not  to  foster  a 
subjective  attitude. 

In  this  way  a  great  deal  that  is  commonly  ap- 
proached as  a  point  of  moral,  is  reached  by  Mrs. 
Harvey  through  avenues  of  taste,  thus  enlisting 
emotion  and  will,  instead  of  using  the  coercion 
of  law.  At  the  beginning  of  the  school  the  only 
outdoor  game  that  the  children  played  was 
"blackman,"  a  game  that  stimulated  vulgarity, 
called  out  roughness  and  brutality,  and  allowed 
too  much  mauling  of  one  another.  Mrs.  Harvey 
never  said  anything  against  this  game,  but  the 
children  have  entirely  eliminated  its  objection- 
able features.  Higher  standards  of  taste,  a 
greater  sense  of  personal  dignity,  and  an  appre- 
ciation of  the  value  of  courtesy,  besides  a  knowl- 
edge of  how  to  amuse  themselves  in  other  ways 
served  to  make  over  the  game  and  furnish  other 
entertainment  without  the  necessity  of  indulg- 


178         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOB  OLD 

ing  in  any  direct  criticism  which  might  have  an- 
tagonized the  children.  This  and  similar  rough 
and  tumble  games  are  occasionally  played  on 
cold  days  when  vigorous  exercise  is  needed. 
They  are  played  by  groups  of  children  of  the 
same  age  and  size  and  the  rule  for  catching  by 
tapping  three  times  instead  of  by  holding  is 
enforced.  The  children  like  these  rules  because 
they  appeal  to  their  sense  of  fairness  and  make 
the  game  more  difficult  and  exciting. 

Art  work  in  the  school  should  be  the  expres- 
sion of  the  child's  interest  and  feeling.  There 
are  no  drawing  books  in  Porter  and  if  it  were 
possible  to  manage  it  in  a  one-room  school,  she 
would  allow  the  children  to  do  this  sort  of  work 
when  they  please  and  with  any  sort  of  material 
they  choose.  But  it  is  a  necessity  for  every  one 
except  the  most  expert  and  experienced  teacher 
to  conserve  time  and  energy  by  having  more  or 
less  uniform  periods  for  different  kinds  of  work. 
Physical  conditions  in  the  country  school  also 
impose  certain  limitations  in  material.  Sand 
gets  too  cold,  clay  freezes,  so  Mrs.  Harvey  re- 
lies upon  plasticine  and  paper  and  colored  cray- 
ons. Some  chance  to  express  themselves  through 
these  mediums  should  be  a  daily  occurrence, 
and  all  occasions  should  be  used  to  call  the 
children's  attention  to  beauty  and  to  have  them 


ETHICS  AND  THE  SOCIAL  SCHOOL    179 

make  comparisons.  The  daily  lessons  also  give 
the  children  many  opportunities  for  artistic  ex- 
pression. They  make  decorated  booklets  of 
their  work,  invent  appropriate  invitations  for 
parties,  make  their  letters  and  note-books  look 
nice,  and  learn  about  the  art  of  the  countries 
they  are  studying  in  history  and  geography. 

The  methods  Mrs.  Harvey  has  employed  in 
teaching  sex  hygiene  in  the  school  and  commun- 
ity deserve  special  mention  because  she  has  been 
so  successful  in  overcoming  that  almost  morbid 
feeling  of  secrecy  and  shame  that  surrounds 
anything  pertaining  to  sex  in  country  districts. 
She  has  substituted  for  this  the  respect  and  re- 
serve that  allow  an  honest  treatment  of  the  sub- 
ject ;  for  she  believes  that  only  with  knowledge 
is  control  possible,  that  it  is  ignorance  of  sex 
matters  that  leads  to  immorality  or  disaster.  A 
frank  acknowledgment  of  the  importance  of  sex 
in  life  and  a  knowledge  of  its  laws  and  the  real 
penalties  for  breaking  them  will  result  in  higher 
standards,  an  ability  to  see  things  in  their  true 
proportion,  and  a  realization  of  the  beauty  of 
life-giving  functions  if  they  are  respected  and 
used  rightly.  Every  child  has  a  right  as  part 
of  his  equipment  in  life  to  knowledge  of  this 
nature,  imparted  in  the  cleanest,  decentest  way 
possible,  just  as  he  has  a  right  to  know  that 


180         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

•water  runs  down  hill  and  fire  burns.  Further- 
more, the  subject,  developed  with  good  feeling, 
may  serve  as  a  means  of  opening  to  him  the 
significance  and  beauty  of  life  in  itself,  of 
strengthening  his  loyalty  to  life  and  his  courage 
to  meet  its  problems. 

Mrs.  Harvey  believes  that  it  is  essential 
that  country  children  be  given  a  spirit  and 
knowledge  that  is  consciously  aimed  at  the 
formation  of  right  habits  of  mind  and  body 
in  sex  matters  because  the  farm  environ- 
ment calls  children's  attention  to  manifestations 
of  sex  life  at  a  very  early  age.  If  children  know 
no  more  than  what  they  see  and  have  acquired 
a  strong  feeling  of  secrecy  and  mystery  about 
everything  they  know  of  the  subject,  they  are 
building  up  a  dangerous  mental  equipment  with 
which  to  meet  adult  life  and  are  much  more  apt 
to  succumb  to  temptations,  largely  based  on  cu- 
riosity. In  building  up  a  healthy  attitude  there 
is  comparatively  little  that  can  be  recommended 
in  the  way  of  method,  since  the  important  thing 
is  contagion  of  spirit  and  for  this  no  receipt 
can  be  given.  Right  attitudes  are  contagious  if 
the  teacher  has  developed  them  honestly,  and 
has  not  adopted  something  which  she  does  not 
really  understand  and  sympathize  with.  The 
point  of  view,  however,  cannot  be  right  unless  it 


ETHICS  AND  THE  SOCIAL  SCHOOL    181 

is  founded  upon  the  facts  of  nature  and  the 
ways  in  which  they  affect  society.  This  is  sim- 
ply another  way  of  saying  that  it  is  not  a  right 
attitude  to  ignore  the  subject  or  to  teach  that 
the  way  to  deal  with  it  is  to  push  every  question, 
every  feeling,  even  every  thought  into  the  secret 
recesses  of  one's  mind. 

It  is  obvious,  of  course,  that  having  estab- 
lished a  busy,  prosperous  and  ambitious  com- 
munity life,  Mrs.  Harvey  has  laid  the  best 
possible  foundation  for  any  sort  of  useful  teach- 
ing. Educating  a  group  of  children  so  that  they 
are  able  to  live  up  to  a  high  conception  of  social 
justice  will  of  itself  solve  the  negative  prob- 
lems of  sex  education  for  children.  The 
children  will  have  too  much  active,  productive 
work  to  do  which  can  be  done  above  board  and 
which  uses  up  their  excess  vitality  to  have  any 
time  left  for  secret  occupations;  and  a  strong 
sense  of  self-respect  and  responsibility  to  par- 
ents and  the  community  will  eliminate  miscon- 
duct of  all  sorts  in  normal  individuals. 

The  key  to  Mrs.  Harvey's  teachings  aimed  di- 
rectly at  establishing  a  healthy  sex  attitude  and 
adequate  sex  knowledge  is  the  family.  While 
she  makes  the  home  the  basis  of  her  education 
in  social  sympathy  and  responsibility,  she  finds 
implicit  in  the  strengthened  home  bond  that  re- 


182          NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

spect  for  life  and  its  processes  which  insures  a 
clean  and  beautiful  sex  life.  In  building  and 
beautifying  the  home  the  foundations  for  future 
homes  are  laid;  and  few  words  are  necessary. 
An  occasional  hint  here  and  there,  a  word  of 
appreciation  and  admiration  and  the  work  is 
done.  The  role  of  the  mother  is  especially  em- 
phasized, as  the  source  of  sympathy  and  wise 
suggestion  throughout  the  life  of  the  family, 
stimulating  the  dream  of  a  happy  home  of  their 
own  in  the  minds  of  the  older  children. 

Mrs.  Harvey  tries  to  prevent  sex  conscious- 
ness by  throwing  the  boys  and  girls  together 
naturally  in  their  work  and  games,  through  the 
social  evenings,  band  practice  and  club  meet- 
ings. The  girls '  ability  in  these  common  activi- 
ties increases  the  boys '  respect  for  them  and  for 
all  women.  She  discourages  pairing  off  into 
couples  and  encourages  general  sociability.  The 
girls  are  made  to  feel  responsible  for  helping 
their  boy  friends  to  be  clean  and  manly  and  are 
told  that  men  look  to  women  to  help  them  to  re- 
spect themselves.  The  boys  are  taught  what  to 
look  for  in  a  girl,  what  girls  look  for  in  them  and 
that  they  owe  it  to  their  mothers  and  sisters  to 
respect  all  girls.  She  points  out  to  them  that 
the  usual  reason  why  either  boys  or  girls  act 
in  an  undignified  way  is  that  they  think  it 


ETHICS  AND  THE  SOCIAL  SCHOOL    183 

pleases  the  other  sex,  but  that  if  this  is  ever 
true,  it  only  attracts  individuals  who  are  not 
worthy  of  friendship ;  that  the  majority  of  the 
other  sex  really  think  more  of  them  for  being 
nice;  and  that  it  is  perfectly  possible  to  have 
fun  and  be  refined  at  the  same  time.  The  con- 
nection between  crude  and  ungallant  acts  and 
vicious  conduct  is  pointed  out ;  and  the  girls  are 
frankly  told  the  connection  between  over-famil- 
iar manners  and  an  unworthy  sex  attraction. 
It  is  sometimes  easier  to  reach  certain  young 
people  through  standards  of  taste  and  social 
usage  than  through  abstract  canons  of  moral 
conduct.  Taste  carries  with  it  the  quick  re- 
sponse of  public  opinion,  and  often  the  more  im- 
mediate rewards  that  young  people  recognize 
as  intrinsically  valuable.  Teaching  social  usage 
and  self-respecting  conduct  as  matters  of  taste 
is  just  as  effective  as  teaching  them  as  means  to 
a  pure  sex  life,  and  avoids  self-consciousness 
and  repetition  that  might  lead  to  brooding  or 
to  over-interest. 

Without  a  sympathetic  attitude  in  the  home 
Mrs.  Harvey  realizes  that  her  attempts  to  es- 
tablish ethical  standards  and  sound  knowledge 
would  probably  fail.  Therefore,  her  initial 
point  of  attack  is  the  parents.  So  many  people 
have  received  their  sex  knowledge  exclusively 


184         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

from  vulgar  companions  in  childhood  that  they 
come  to  think  of  all  sex  knowledge  as  vulgar  and 
think  that  instruction  however  given  must  be 
harmful.  Hence  Mrs.  Harvey  believes  that  par- 
ents and  elders  of  the  community  must  first  be 
taught  the  proper  attitude  toward  giving  in- 
struction in  sex  hygiene  before  much  can  be 
gained  through  teaching  children.  At  best  the 
two  groups  may  be  carried  along  together. 
Otherwise,  before  boys  and  girls  enter  school  vul- 
gar expressions  may  be  learned  and  vicious  hab- 
its formed  which  the  teacher,  however  skilful, 
may  be  unable  to  break  up.  Her  method  of  reach- 
ing the  parents  was  indirect  at  first.  A  word 
now  and  then  was  spoken  to  individual  parents 
and  sometimes  in  community  gatherings  it  was 
suggested  that  all  was  not  being  done  for  the 
boys  and  girls  to  enable  them  to  develop  to  their 
fullest  measure.  When  parents  were  especially 
pleased,  interested  or  even  worried  over  their 
children,  the  teacher  would  point  out:  "and 
what  a  fine  man  your  son  will  be  if  we  just  give 
him  the  right  chance. ' '  This  led  the  parents  to 
seek  help  as  to  the  best  way  of  giving  this 
chance.  Then  Mrs.  Harvey  would  suggest  a 
boys'  band,  as  one  instrument  which  would 
serve  four  purposes  in  the  development  of  the 
boy's  character;  it  would  keep  the  boy  away 


ETHICS  AND  THE  SOCIAL  SCHOOL    185 

from  the  temptations  of  the  town  on  Saturday 
night ;  it  would  give  a  chance  for  wholesome  ac- 
tivity; it  would  afford  a  topic  for  interesting 
and  instructive  conversation  and  it  would  help 
to  establish  right  ethical  standards  and  social 
relationship. 

The  topics  of  the  Mothers '  Club  chiefly  center 
around  the  care  of  children.  No  meeting  occurs 
without  some  discussion  of  the  child's  physical 
development.  The  hygienic  value  of  providing 
wholesome  and  adequate  amusement  for  boys 
and  girls,  such  as  books,  pictures,  games  and 
toys,  in  furnishing  ideas  and  occupation  to  keep 
their  minds  off  themselves  was  explained.  They 
were  told  how  they  could  answer  without  em- 
barrassment or  evasion  the  children's  questions 
about  the  origin  of  life ;  and  each  mother  was 
given  literature  on  the  subject.  After  they  had 
read  some  good  pamphlets  the  questions  that 
had  come  up  were  talked  over  in  a  club  meeting. 
The  men  were  reached  by  a  lecturer  sent  out  by 
the  extension  department  of  the  state  univer- 
sity, who  gave  a  plain  talk  to  the  fathers  on 
their  duties  and  responsibilities  to  their  children 
in  sex  matters.  The  men  were  so  pleased  with 
the  value  and  good  common  sense  of  the  talk, 
that  they  arranged  to  have  it  repeated  when 
their  wives  could  be  present.  In  this  way  the 


186         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

parents  were  taught  to  feel  the  necessity  for 
following  a  positive  and  constructive  course  of 
education  for  their  children. 

With  the  older  children  in  the  community  who 
have  not  had  the  advantages  of  a  good  school  all 
their  lives  the  work  in  sex  education  is  similar 
to  that  with  their  parents.  Mrs.  Harvey  knows 
each  young  person  intimately  and  in  so  small  a 
place  no  one  can  conceal  his  pastimes  and  habits 
to  any  extent.  Therefore,  if  she  has  reason  to 
suspect  that  an  individual  boy  or  girl  is  troubled 
or  is  drifting  in  some  personal  matter,  she  tries 
to  help  him  by  letting  him  talk  it  out  with  her. 
Since  she  gained  the  confidence  of  the  children 
from  the  first  day  she  came  to  Porter,  this  is 
not  hard ;  the  teacher  is  the  best  friend  of  every 
pupil  in  the  school.  They  can  talk  to  her  be- 
cause they  know  they  will  find  her  sympathetic, 
understanding  their  difficulties  and  temptations ; 
and  that  she  will  not  waste  words  in  censuring, 
but  will  tell  them  the  best  and  most  courageous 
way  to  behave.  The  same  man  who  talked  to 
the  fathers  gave  a  lecture  on  the  origin  of  life 
and  social  hygiene  to  the  adolescent  boys  of  the 
school.  Mrs.  Harvey  has  talked  to  the  older 
girls  and  given  them  a  book  to  read  on  the  sub- 
ject. These  talks  are  not  couched  in  such  sym- 
bolic and  poetic  language  that  the  children  can- 


— 


ETHICS  AND  THE  SOCIAL  SCHOOL    187 

not  understand  the  full  significance  of  what  is 
told  them.  They  are  given  I  in  scientific  form, 
and  the  meaning  of  a  new  Aerm  is  explained; 
they  include  not  only  an  outline  of  the  facts  of 
the  genesis  of  life  in  plants,  animals  and  man, 
but  a  brief  statement  of  social  abuses  and  the 
penalties  in  disease  and  ruined  inheritance  that 
follow  vice.  The  general  training  in  courage, 
self-respect,  taste  and  social  welfare,  and  the 
abundant  and  wholesome  activities  of  their  lives 
have  prepared  them  to  stand  the  truth  and  to 
recognize  that  shame  and  half  truths  are  the 
weapons  of  weakness  and  uncertainty.  The 
older  children,  of  course,  get  the  benefit  of  the 
lessons  and  suggestions  given  to  the  school  as  a 
whole,  hence  in  a  shorter  space  of  time  they 
cover  about  the  same  range  of  material  that  will 
run  through  the  entire  childhood  of  the  younger 
pupils. 

Mrs.  Harvey  believes  that  young  children  also 
should  receive  instruction  in  sex,  since  they  be- 
gin to  ask  questions  about  the  origin  of  life, 
birth,  mating,  etc.,  at  ait  early  age.  These  ques- 
tions are  usually  asked  parents  and  should  be 
truthfully  answered  as  soon  as  asked.  But  this 
incomplete  information  should  be  explained  by 
more  scientific  and  continuous  lessons  in  the 
class  room.  Since  country  children  do  become 


188         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

familiar  with  mating  and  birth  from  their  own 
observations  in  the  barnyard,  it  is  doubly  im- 
portant that  they  learn  life-histories  of  all 
sorts.  And  because  this  eye-sight  information 
comes  through  domestic  animals,  Mrs.  Harvey 
believes  the  formal  lessons  should  be  taken 
chiefly  from  plant  life.  The  principles  of  life 
propagation  are  the  same ;  the  children  are  en- 
tering a  new  field  and  increasing  their  range  of 
knowledge  by  that  much  while  they  are  finding 
out  the  extent  to  which  scientific  principles  are 
generally  applicable.  In  using  plants  there  is 
no  danger  of  waking  prematurely  instincts  and 
emotions  which  do  not  exist  normally  for  chil- 
dren. 

Mrs.  Harvey's  positive  and  constructive  at- 
tack upon  ethical  questions  of  all  sorts  cannot 
be  too  much  emphasized.  She  realizes  that  vice 
is  largely  a  negative  matter,  which  springs  up 
with  ignorance  or  idleness.  Teach  children  to 
understand  the  things  they  see  around  them; 
teach  them  the  value  of  service  and  social  jus- 
tice; the  joy  of  health  and  how  to  be  healthy; 
the  need  of  recreation  and  how  to  make  it  for 
themselves,  and  the  teaching  of  morals  will 
shrink  to  the  teaching  of  manners,  good  taste 
and  appreciation  of  beauty.  Lying,  deceit, 
cruelty,  viciousness  of  all  sorts  come  from  pov- 


ETHICS  AND  THE  SOCIAL  SCHOOL    189 

erty:  material,  spiritual  or  mental.  Dealing 
with  it  by  applying  prohibitions  and  restraints 
is  simply  taking  away  something  of  the  inade- 
quate supply  there  is;  increasing  the  poverty. 
But  give  children  plenty  of  things  they  may  do 
and  show  them  how  these  activities  will  help 
them  to  be  prosperous  and  comfortable ;  to  find 
ont  things  they  are  curious  about;  to  develop 
the  imaginative  and  emotional  side  of  their  na- 
tures, and  unless  there  is  some  actual  ab- 
normality, evil  will  go  from  them.  Every 
parent  and  good  teacher  knows  how  almost  pa- 
thetically easy  it  is  to  appeal  to  a  little  child's 
sense  of  right  and  fairness ;  and  if  this  appeal  is 
made  constant  by  being  fair  to  the  children 's 
minds,  bodies  and  hearts,  the  response  will  be 
permanent. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  SCHOOL  AND  THE  ECONOMIC  INTERESTS  OF 
PORTER 

LEARNING  how  to  avoid  their  usual  social  star- 
vation is  only  half  the  lesson  farmers  must 
learn:  necessary  as  it  is  to  break  down  habits 
of  isolation,  the  people  cannot  stay  social  long 
unless  they  are  learning  to  change  the  material 
conditions  under  which  they  live.  With  a  wid- 
ened social  outlook,  there  comes  a  demand  for 
greater  comfort  and  leisure  and  a  money  mar- 
gin to  enable  each  one  to  do  his  share  in  the 
social  group.  Social  stagnation  and  bad  farm- 
ing go  together.  A  community  alive  socially  is 
sure  to  be  open-minded  towards  improvements 
and  scientific  agriculture ;  the  ambition  for  more 
time  and  money  to  spend  on  recreation  is 
enough  to  arouse  an  economic  interest.  A  dis- 
trict of  prosperous,  progressive  farms  means 
people  with  habits  of  self-improvement  and 
social  intercourse  of  some  sort.  Mrs.  Har- 
vey 's  problem  was  just  as  much  concerned  with 
the  improvement  of  farm  practices,  health, 
household  comfort,  and  the  development  of  a 

190 


SCHOOL  AND  ECONOMIC  INTERESTS  191 

real  economic  sense  in  her  district,  as  it  was 
with  creating  a  community  spirit.  Acquaint- 
ance with  the  community  and  opportunities  to 
get  acquainted  with  itself  were  first  steps  to 
any  sort  of  changes,  for  only  on  such  acquaint- 
ance could  any  confidence  in  the  leader  and  in 
each  other  be  based.  It  was  as  easy  and  nat- 
ural to  use  occasions  and  make  suggestions  con- 
cerned with  the  work  of  the  district  as  to  show 
the  possibilities  for  cultural  development ;  Mrs. 
Harvey  did  both. 

The  group  of  fanners  who  first  asked  Mrs. 
Harvey  to  come  to  Porter  were  moved  by 
anxiety  to  keep  their  children  on  the  farm. 
They  realized  that  the  conventional  education, 
dealing  entirely  with  subject  matter  drawn  from 
country  experiences,  is  poor  preparation  for  the 
farmer,  and  tends,  on  the  contrary,  to  turn  the 
children  towards  city  life.  They  welcomed  any- 
thing, therefore,  that  brought  agriculture  and 
country  interests  into  the  class  room.  It  was 
here  that  Mrs.  Harvey  made  her  start  in 
influencing  farm  practices  at  Porter.  All 
the  usual  prejudices  against  "book  farming" 
were  exaggerated  by  the  local  situation.  The 
only  farm  work  that  was  done  with  any  real 
scientific  knowledge  or  skill  was  the  breeding  of 
stock.  Several  farmers  had  splendid  herds  of 


192         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOB  OLD 

pure-blooded  cattle  that  they  bred  and  managed 
according  to  the  best  methods;  one  farmer 
raised  fine  horses ;  and  all  of  them  raise  a  high 
grade  of  farm  horse  for  their  own  uses.  Some 
of  the  cattle  were  known  to  Jersey  breeders  all 
over  the  country  and  took  prizes  when  they 
were  exhibited.  This,  of  course,  requires  abil- 
ity and  knowledge  as  well  as  thoroughly  up-to- 
date  methods  on  the  part  of  the  owners.  But 
with  this  exception  little  attention  was  paid  to 
new  methods  and  no  attempt  was  made  to  check 
up  the  size  and  quality  of  the  crops  against  the 
time  and  money  invested  in  them.  The  grain 
and  corn  yield  was  small  per  acre  in  spite  of  the 
best  soil  and  climate  conditions.  All  the  farm 
animals  except  the  cows  and  horses  were  mon- 
grel, and  received  mongrel  care,  so  that  in- 
vestments were  large  for  the  returns.  Small 
crops  to  furnish  food  for  the  family  or  serve 
as  a  resource  when  the  main  crops  failed  were 
not  attempted.  Money  which  should  have  gone 
for  comforts  and  recreation  was  spent  for  vege- 
tables and  canned  goods  that  could  have  been 
grown  and  canned  at  home  at  almost  no  ex- 
pense. 

The  Porter  district  had  indeed  better  oppor- 
tunities than  most  farm  districts  to  get  the  bene- 
fit of  organized  farm  propaganda.  Besides  the 


SCHOOL  AND  ECONOMIC  INTERESTS  193 

government  and  state  leaflets  and  bulletins  that 
find  their  way  into  every  neighborhood,  the  dis- 
trict was  near  the  demonstration  farm  of  the 
normal  school  in  Kirksville.  But  this  had  only 
served  to  increase  their  suspicion  of  book  farm- 
ing and  new-fangled  methods.  The  men  con- 
ducting the  demonstration  farm  did  not  have  to 
make  their  living  from  what  they  raised;  they 
were,  therefore,  a  type  of  men  that  the  farmers 
did  not  recognize  as  belonging  to  themselves; 
and,  most  prejudicial  of  all,  they  tried  experi- 
ments which  sometimes  failed.  One  failure 
loomed  larger  throughout  the  countryside  than 
any  number  of  successes  because  the  farmers, 
unfamiliar  with  agricultural  problems,  saw  no 
reason  for  experimenting  and  believed  there 
was  one  best  old-fashioned  way  to  do  every- 
thing. They  saw  on  the  demonstration  farm 
only  the  resulting  crops,  and  when  these  were 
good,  that  was  only  farming;  but  when  they 
were  bad,  it  showed  the  foolishness  of  profes- 
sors trying  to  teach  practical  men  anything 
about  their  own  business.  The  result  was  that 
the  farmers  of  Porter  had  built  up  an  obstinate 
distrust  of  anything  that  came  in  the  guise  of 
science  or  government  organized  farming. 
They  would  not  spray  for  pests,  nor  rotate  or 
fertilize  their  crops  sufficiently;  they  made  no 


194         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOE  OLD 

attempt   to   keep   barnyard   animals    of   pure 
strain,  and  they  planted  any  quality  of  seeds. 

Mrs.  Harvey  realized  that  if  she  went  too  fast 
and  suggested  anything  that  would  not  be  of 
immediate  practical  value,  she  stood  in  great 
danger  of  being  classed  as  a  mere  professor  of 
farming  with  a  discount  on  all  her  ideas.  But 
she  knew  a  great  deal  about  practical  farming 
herself  and  intended  to  have  the  state  college  of 
agriculture  furnish  the  other  requisite  knowl- 
edge. The  first  year  she  began  to  bring  farm 
subjects  into  the  daily  lessons  and  to  start  dis- 
cussions of  farm  practices  among  the  children- 
She  had  them  use  events  that  happened  at  home 
for  their  written  stories  and  for  their  talks  to 
the  other  children.  She  also  suggested  in  the 
fall  that  it  would  be  a  good  experience  for  some 
of  the  older  boys  to  go  with  her  to  Columbia  for 
' '  Farmers '  Week. ' '  She  pointed  out  to  the  par- 
ents that  they  could  not  expect  their  children  to 
love  farm  life  if  they  did  not  give  them  a  chance 
to  see  the  best  there  was  in  it,  and  to  see  that  it 
\vas  a  real  profession  with  far-reaching  connec- 
tions and  big  problems  and  had  the  interest  of 
the  best  men  of  the  country.  As  a  result  of  the 
first  fall's  campaign  four  of  the  older  boys  got 
a  week  of  the  best  book  farming  and  came  back 
so  enthusiastic  and  so  full  of  what  they  had 


SCHOOL  AND  ECONOMIC  INTERESTS  195 

learned  that  the  whole  district  was  forced  to  a 
new  respect  for  scientific  methods.  The  boys' 
information,  as  far  as  it  went,  was  complete; 
they  had  not  only  seen  the  results,  but  they  had 
learned  the  reasons  for  doing  many  of  the 
things  their  parents  had  vaguely  regarded  as 
unnecessary  frills. 

Suggestions  have  been  followed  up  with  all 
the  information  necessary  to  make  them  easily 
understood  and  appreciated;  moreover,  these 
suggestions  have  always  been  practicable,  with 
the  resources  of  labor,  equipment  and  skill  that 
the  farmers  already  had.  Whenever  an  inter- 
esting agricultural  or  rural  expert  has  come  to 
visit  the  school  she  made  an  opportunity  for  the 
community  to  hear  about  his  work.  A  number 
of  the  school  gatherings  held  the  first  winter 
were  really  lectures  on  scientific  farming.  But 
the  workers  for  better  agriculture  have  become 
so  alive  to  its  relation  to  country  life  conditions 
that  their  lectures  are  usually  given  a  very  prac- 
tical turn ;  farm  life  is  at  present  unsatisfactory 
largely  because  farmers  do  not  know  how  to 
make  the  most  of  their  available  resources.  But 
Porter  community  was  already  roused  to  the 
need  for  changed  living  conditions.  They  soon 
saw,  therefore,  that  to  meet  this  demand  they 
must  keep  up  with  the  times  in  farm  practices 


196         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOE  OLD 

and  that  their  investment  as  well  as  their  prod- 
uct must  compete  with  that  of  farmers  who  had 
succeeded  in  making  richer  lives  for  them- 
selves. 

Conditions  inside  the  farm  house  are  as  vital 
to  good  farming  as  the  methods  used  in  the 
fields.  The  same  thought  and  reason  that 
should  be  put  on  the  farm  must  be  applied  to  the 
work  at  home,  for  the  health,  comfort  and  re- 
creation of  any  family  are  dependent  upon  the 
home  management.  If  a  woman's  life  is  an  end- 
less drudgery  of  inefficient  work,  her  household 
will  never  have  an  attractive  or  even  comfort- 
able home  life.  The  economic  importance  of  a 
convenient  and  comfortable  farm  house  and  of 
efficient  and  resourceful  work  for  farm  women 
is  quite  as  great  as  its  social  importance.  The 
health  of  the  family  depends  on  the  way  the 
farmer's  wife  cleans,  washes,  cooks,  makes  but- 
ter, preserves  food,  and  arranges  the  house ;  and 
no  family  can  be  prosperous  and  happy  without 
good  health.  In  most  farming  regions  the 
women  take  charge  of  some  part  of  the  paying 
work,  chicken  raising,  dairying  or  truck  garden- 
ing. At  Porter  the  women  tended  to  the  milk 
and  took  care  of  the  chickens  and  what  small 
gardens  there  were.  If  they  are  sloppy  in  their 
housework,  their  outdoor  work  will  be  marked 


SCHOOL  AND  ECONOMIC  INTERESTS  197 

by  the  same  messiness  and  waste.  Economic 
efficiency  demands  comfortable  surroundings 
with  rest  and  leisure  enough  for  planning  and 
for  building  up  ambition.  This  is  wanting  in  a 
house  where  the  work  is  never  done  until  the 
women  drop  exhausted  into  bed. 

Mrs.  Harvey's  own  life  at  Porter  was  a  dem- 
onstration to  the  community  of  the  value  of 
applying  scientific  knowledge  and  methods  to 
the  household  and  the  farm.  We  have  seen  how 
the  rebuilding  of  the  school  house  was  done  with 
the  practical  situation  always  in  mind.  The 
plumbing,  heating  and  decorating  were  all  done 
in  a  way  that  was  suitable  for  any  farm  house 
in  the  district.  Moreover,  the  result  was  pleas- 
ing, durable,  and  easy  to  take  care  of.  The 
brooms,  cleaning  powder  and  scrub  pail  were  of 
the  kind  that  worked  with  the  least  time  and  ef- 
fort for  the  women  using  them.  The  scrub  pail 
especially  has  become  a  popular  demonstration. 
When  Mrs.  Harvey  came  no  one  had  anything 
but  the  ordinary  galvanized  pail  with  the  open 
top.  Now  there  is  hardly  a  farm  house  in  the 
district  where  a  pail  with  a  patent  wringer  top 
is  not  used  for  scrubbing.  The  women  instantly 
appreciated  the  great  advantage  of  the  pail, 
but  formerly  they  had  been  too  tired  to  make 
the  mental  exertion  necessary  to  break  away 


198         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

from  the  customary  methods  of  scrubbing,  how- 
ever back-breaking. 

The  teacher's  cottage  was  made  an  in- 
tegral part  of  the  community.  When  Mrs. 
Harvey  moved  into  the  house  it  was  much 
the  worst  in  the  district.  But  now,  in  spite  of 
having  nothing  but  cistern  water,  a  persistently 
leaking  ceiling,  no  cellar,  no  attic,  and  no  clos- 
ets, the  work  of  the  four  rooms  is  easy.  The 
neighbors  have  always  marvelled  at  the  ability 
Mrs.  Harvey  and  Miss  Crecelius  have  shown  in 
arranging  the  house,  and  at  the  ease  with  which 
Mrs.  Harvey's  mother  gets  the  housework  done. 
They  call  often,  and  whenever  a  new  device  or 
convenience  has  been  installed  Mrs.  Harvey 
takes  pains  to  show  it  and  explain  its  use  and 
value.  The  kitchen  tables,  for  instance,  with 
legs  longer  than  customary  to  suit  the  unusual 
height  of  both  Mrs.  Harvey  and  her  mother, 
were  a  revelation  to  the  entire  district.  And 
even  to-day  a  visitor  is  pretty  sure  to  hear  of 
those  table  legs  and  the  lesson  they  taught  the 
farmers '  wives  about  the  value  of  making  their 
work  as  comfortable  and  as  easy  as  possible. 
Working  equipment  for  the  home  is  usually 
manufactured  with  no  thought  for  the  health  or 
convenience  of  the  women  who  would  use  it.  In 
the  country  the  houses  are  generally  built  ac- 


SCHOOL  AND  ECONOMIC  INTERESTS  199 

cording  to  a  plan  that  is  easy  for  the  jack  car- 
penter doing  the  work.  The  farm  woman  is  so 
swamped  by  the  daily  necessity  of  wading 
through  unlimited  work  that  she  has  little  time 
to  find  out  about  improved  methods  or  even  to 
read  the  printed  matter  that  is  distributed.  But 
a  demonstration  of  work  tables  built  the  right 
height  for  the  worker,  low  telephones,  and  a 
well-arranged  kitchen  were  concrete  lessons 
that  the  tired  farmers'  wives  appreciated  and 
that  brought  a  quick  response  in  improved  con- 
ditions in  neighboring  houses. 

Besides  the  school  house  and  teacher's  cot- 
tage, Mrs.  Harvey  began  another  demonstration 
her  first  year  at  Porter :  the  garden  at  the  teach- 
er's  cottage.  There  were  gardens  of  sorts 
around  nearly  every  house  in  Porter,  but  the 
tendency  was  here  as  in  every  farm  community 
to  sacrifice  the  beauty  and  restfulness  of  flow- 
ers, and  the  advantages  of  green  vegetables  to 
the  more  concrete  returns  to  be  had  from  herds 
and  poultry  yards.  A  demonstration  was 
needed  to  show  the  ease  and  economy  of  a  rest- 
ful yard  with  blue  grass,  vines  and  flowers  that 
required  little  attention ;  and  the  value  of  a  plen- 
tiful supply  of  vegetables  for  the  table.  The 
garden  at  the  cottage  was  started  with  the 
double  purpose  of  giving  the  children  the  val- 


200         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOB  OLD 

uable  lessons  to  be  learned  from  applying  the 
things  about  soils  and  plants  that  they  were 
learning  in  the  class  room,  and  arousing  their 
civic  pride  and  aesthetic  sense  so  that  they  would 
feel  the  need  of  pleasant,  restful  and  healthy 
surroundings.  The  children  eagerly  learned  the 
lessons  in  harmonious  arrangement  of  color, 
size  and  foliage.  They  did  all  the  work  them- 
selves from  helping  with  the  plans  and  under- 
standing the  reasons  for  them,  preparing  the 
soil,  planting,  weeding  and  watering  to  gather- 
ing the  crops.  The  children  enjoyed  the  work 
and  the  reaction  on  the  neighborhood  was  re- 
markably prompt.  The  first  summer  the  chil- 
dren started  gardens  of  their  own  at  home,  and 
took  a  more  active  interest  in  those  that  already 
existed.  Mrs.  Harvey  impressed  on  them  from 
the  beginning  that  in  undertaking  gardens  of 
their  own  they  must  assume  the  full  responsi- 
bility, and  not  add  to  the  burdens  of  already 
overworked  parents  by  expecting  help  with  work 
which  it  was  particularly  appropriate  for  them 
to  do. 

Many  of  the  gatherings  held  in  the  school 
house  had  as  their  purpose  to  improve  the  farm 
practices  in  the  district.  Porter  has  acquired 
a  reputation  as  a  progressive  and  accessible  dis- 
trict. The  lecturers,  experts  and  demonstrators 


SCHOOL  AND  ECONOMIC  INTERESTS  201 

of  the  state  college  of  agriculture  all  know  that 
the  machinery  for  community  gatherings  exists 
and  works  easily,  and,  as  a  result,  whenever 
they  are  in  the  neighborhood,  they  are  apt  to 
offer  their  services  for  a  lecture  or  demonstra- 
tion in  the  school  house.  In  this  way  the  people 
of  the  district  keep  track  of  the  progress  made 
throughout  the  state  and  have  many  opportuni- 
ties to  discuss  their  own  problems  with  those 
who  can  help  them.  The  value  of  the  school 
house  and  a  teacher-leader  to  act  as  a  connect- 
ing1 link  between  the  state  and  federal  service 
and  the  individual  family  has  been  fully  shown. 
Previously  the  farmers  had  not  only  made  little 
or  no  use  of  the  laboratories,  the  experts,  and 
the  information  which  every  state  maintains  for 
the  free  use  of  its  farmers,  but  they  were  sus- 
picious of  any  bits  of  information  that  drifted 
to  them  from  these  sources.  Now  every  fam- 
ily in  the  district  knows  just  what  kind  of  help 
the  state  can  give,  how  to  get  it,  and  how  good 
it  is.  Every  family  is  helped  by  means  of  the 
consulting  and  advising  done  through  the  school 
or  one  of  the  clubs,  while  it  is  an  obvious  econ- 
omy to  the  state  to  make  a  single  contact  with 
one  organization  in  a  district  instead  of  having 
to  work  up  a  separate  audience  in  every  house. 
The  benefits  to  the  farmers  themselves  from 


202         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOE  OLD 

the  simultaneous  adoption  of  an  improvement 
or  new  method  on  several  neighboring  farms  at 
once  are  considerable. 

There  were  two  or  three  scientific  farmers  liv- 
ing in  the  district  who  had  worked  together; 
they  had,  moreover,  tried  to  interest  their  neigh- 
bors in  order  to  make  their  own  efforts  more 
effective.  They  had  been  hampered  by  their  iso- 
lation and  the  indifference  of  the  farmers  in 
their  attempts  to  get  certain  materials,  the  best 
grades  of  seeds,  etc.,  and  by  the  fact  that  farm- 
ers can  only  afford  much  of  the  farm  machinery 
when  bought  cooperatively.  When  these  men 
saw,  therefore,  that  Mrs.  Harvey  was  trying  to 
rouse  the  whole  community  to  a  real  interest 
in  improved  methods  they  joined  her  enthusias- 
tically. One  of  the  men  had  attended  a  branch 
short  course  in  another  part  of  the  state ;  hence, 
when  Mrs.  Harvey  told  of  her  plan  to  persuade 
the  university  to  hold  one  in  the  school  house, 
he  spent  a  lot  of  time  visiting  the  neighbors  and 
enlisting  their  support.  Finally  the  few  pro- 
gressive farmers  persuaded  their  neighbors 
either  out  of  genuine  interest  or  politeness  to 
consent  to  subscribe  to  the  course  and  attend  the 
meetings.  These  men  petitioned  the  state  col- 
lege to  hold  a  Movable  School  of  Agriculture  in 
the  Porter  school  house.  These  schools  are 


SCHOOL  AND  ECONOMIC  INTERESTS  203 

available  in  all  states,  under  the  Smith-Lever 
Law,  which  grants  federal  aid  to  the  extent  of 
doubling  the  state's  expenditures  for  agricul- 
tural extension  work.  The  school  session  lasts 
a  week  and  it  is  held  wherever  there  is  a  suf- 
ficient demand.  The  community  is  supposed  to 
meet  the  expense  involved  in  housing  the  school, 
etc.,  but  everything  else  is  furnished  by  the 
state.  Mrs.  Harvey  had  already  persuaded  the 
college  to  agree  to  send  the  course  there  if  the 
farmers  petitioned  for  it. 

The  short  course  is  usually  held  at  Porter  in 
October.  Two  or  three  lecturers  come  from  the 
university  and  give  a  series  of  lectures  and  dem- 
onstrations on  subjects  which  bear  directly  on 
the  conditions  in  the  locality  and  the  farmers' 
immediate  problems.  The  first  year  a  merchant 
in  town  loaned  a  big  tent  and  this  was  set  up  on 
the  school  grounds  for  classes  in  stock  judging 
and  exhibits  of  machinery.  The  young  men  be- 
came so  interested  in  the  subject  that  they  or- 
ganized a  class,  taught  by  a  breeder  in  the 
district,  to  continue  the  study  of  judging  after 
the  extension  school  closed.  They  used  the  farm 
yards  of  the  district  for  laboratories,  while  Mrs. 
Harvey  helped  them  with  the  text-book  work. 
The  other  lectures  that  year  were  chiefly  on  soil 
conservation  and  corn  growing.  The  courses 


204         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOE  OLD 

created  so  much  interest  in  the  neighborhood 
that  thirteen  members  of  the  community  went 
to  Farmers'  Week  at  Columbia  that  winter. 

The  short  course  held  in  1914  continued  the 
work  begun  the  year  before.  There  were  daily 
demonstrations  with  a  mechanical  milker,  the 
first  that  most  of  the  community  had  ever  seen, 
and  there  were  stock  judging  lessons  and  con- 
tests. A  series  of  lectures  was  given  on  crop 
rotations,  and  on  the  care  and  feeding  of  cattle ; 
two  lectures  on  hog  raising  and  feeding,  and 
two  or  three  on  legumes.  The  third  year 
courses  were  held  at  the  same  time  in  Porter 
and  a,  neighboring  district.  A  field  tractor  dem- 
onstrated daily.  The  lecturers  continued  the 
discussions  of  the  other  two  years,  but  empha- 
sized especially  the  use  of  new  crops,  such  as 
legumes  and  cover  crops,  previously  unknown 
to  Porter. 

The  school  demonstration  farm  was  started 
in  the  spring  of  1914  as  a  result  of  the  interest 
roused  by  the  short  course.  A  prosperous  farm- 
er who  owns  the  land  around  the  school  house 
leased  to  the  school  seven  acres  rent  free  for 
five  years,  to  be  used  as  a  community  demon- 
stration farm.  The  land  is  used  for  field  crops 
of  various  kinds,  wheat,  oats,  corn,  alfalfa, 
clover,  soy  beans  and  many  grasses.  A  Mis- 


SCHOOL  AND  ECONOMIC  INTERESTS  205 

souri  nursery  considered  the  undertaking  sig- 
nificant enough  to  be  willing  to  contribute  fruit 
trees  and  vines.  The  farm  is  worked  under  the 
direction  of  the  Extension  Department  of  the 
College  of  Agriculture.  All  the  crops  are 
handled  in  the  best  way,  the  best  tested  seeds 
used,  and  careful  records  kept.  Frequent  re- 
ports of  methods,  plans  and  results  of  the  work 
on  the  farm  are  made  to  the  community.  The 
yearly  visits  of  the  college  experts  to  the  farm 
to  check  results  and  advise  for  the  next  year 
become  community  demonstrations.  The  man- 
agement of  the  farm  is  in  the  hands  of  one  of 
the  older  boys  of  the  district,  elected  by  the 
Farmers '  Club.  He  receives  the  crops  in  return 
for  his  work.  The  responsibility  for  following 
exactly  the  college  instructions  and  for  keeping 
the  records  falls  on  him.  The  farm  furnishes 
the  materials  for  many  class-room  lessons.  All 
the  children  are  familiar  with  the  ground  plan 
of  the  land,  the  kinds  and  sizes  of  crops,  their 
rotation,  and  the  results  of  the  experiments  with 
different  kinds  of  seeds. 

The  community  gathering  held  in  March,  1917, 
to  hear  a  report  on  the  farm  illustrates  the  way 
the  people  are  kept  in  touch  with  what  is  done. 
The  previous  summer  the  farm  was  planted  with 
a  view  to  testing  seeds  brought  from  different 


206          NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

climates  and  different  states.  On  this  occasion 
the  farm  manager  made  a  report  on  these  ex- 
periments. He  pointed  out  the  necessity  for 
pure  seeds  and  the  difficulty  of  getting  them  by 
explaining  an  analysis  made  at  the  agricultural 
college  of  seeds  he  had  bought  from  the  best 
merchant  in  town.  He  gave  in  detail  the  num- 
ber of  noxious  weeds  that  were  found  in  a  pack- 
age of  supposedly  standard  clover  seeds  and  ex- 
plained the  method  of  having  a  seed  analysis 
made.  He  then  gave  the  names  of  the  dealers 
who  had  furnished  the  best  seeds  for  the  farm. 
He  told  of  the  next  year's  plan  of  planting  po- 
tatoes in  the  orchard  and  gave  the  name  and 
address  of  an  association  of  potato  seed  dealers 
who  were  reliable.  As  a  result,  several  farm- 
ers began  purchasing  their  seed  potatoes  co- 
operatively from  this  dealer ;  and  for  the  first 
time  the  farmers  became  aware  of  the  dangers 
of  the  indiscriminate  buying  of  seeds. 

When  a  state  demonstrator  comes  to  Porter, 
he  usually  begins  his  work  by  an  evening  talk. 
An  orchard  expert,  for  instance,  first  gave  an 
illustrated  lecture  on  the  insects  and  pests  that 
are  most  troublesome  in  the  district.  The  next 
day  he  gave  a  lesson  in  orchard  spraying  and 
pruning  in  an  old  orchard  in  the  neighborhood ; 
he  then  gave  a  second  lesson  to  the  older  pupils 


SCHOOL  AND  ECONOMIC  INTERESTS  207 

in  the  orchard  on  the  school  farm.  As  a  result 
of  the  orchard  demonstrations  the  community 
bought  a  spraying  machine  and  spraying  mate- 
rial enough  for  all  the  orchards  in  the  district ; 
the  latter  to  be  paid  for  by  the  users,  but 
bought  cooperatively  to  decrease  the  cost. 
There  was  one  farmer  in  the  district  who  still 
did  not  believe  that  spraying  paid.  Because  of 
his  expressed  doubts,  two  of  his  neighbors, 
helped  by  Miss  Crecelius,  took  the  machine  into 
his  orchard  and  sprayed  all  but  one  of  his  trees. 
The  results  convinced  him  that  successful,  prac- 
tical farmer  though  he  was,  "book  fanning" 
could  teach  him  something. 

The  Farmers '  Club  is  doing  more  all  the  time 
towards  getting  the  community  to  work  as  a 
whole  on  the  problem  of  getting  information  and 
then  applying  it.  It  buys  cooperatively  for  its 
members  oil-meal,  seed  potatoes,  navy  beans 
and  binder  twine.  The  saving  by  buying  in 
large  quantities  is  considerable,  and  some  of 
the  supplies  can  be  had  in  better  quality 
when  purchased  by  wholesale  than  when 
bought  in  small  quantities.  The  club  also 
spends  many  of  its  evenings  discussing  topics 
that  are  vital  to  all  the  farms  in  the  district, 
giving  each  member  the  benefit  of  the  experi- 
ences of  all  the  others.  Here  are  some  of  the 


208         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

subjects  they  have  discussed  or  debated:  the 
Importance  of  Sowing  Clover;  Planting  and 
Cultivation  of  Corn;  Profitable  Ways  of  Har- 
vesting Corn;  The  Silo;  Current  Events  and 
Markets;  The  Land  Banking  System;  Resolved 
that  it  is  more  profitable  to  handle  dairy  cattle 
than  beef;  Resolved  that  every  farmer  having 
twelve  or  more  head  of  cattle  should  have  a 
silo. 

The  club,  backed  by  the  sentiment  of  the 
school  house  and  the  whole  district,  does  good 
work  for  better  country  roads.  The  clay  soil 
around  Porter  makes  the  roads  extremely  bad 
during  thaws  and  heavy  rains,  but  before  the 
new  school,  the  district  confined  its  efforts  to 
complaints  about  them.  But  now  that  the  roads 
must  be  passable  all  the  time  or  interfere  with 
the  community  life  and  the  gatherings  at  the 
school  house  the  people  have  become  more  ac- 
tive road  workers.  The  road  drag  is  used  after 
every  heavy  rain  and  steadily  in  the  early 
spring,  and  the  men,  working  together,  have 
built  a  number  of  concrete  bridges  over  places 
which  used  to  wash  out  every  spring.  As  a  re- 
sult, the  roads  are  getting  in  better  condition 
all  the  time,  and  many  of  the  old  mud  holes, 
where  teams  used  to  stick  fast,  are  disappear- 
ing. The  whole  district  works  for  good  roads. 


SCHOOL  AND  ECONOMIC  INTERESTS  209 

The  whole  district  used  to  feel  that  good  roads 
were  their  due — someone  ought  to  supply  them; 
now  they  realize  that  with  a  little  persistent 
effort  on  their  part  the  roads  can  be  made  very 
useable  and  that  the  responsibility  for  seeing 
that  good  roads  are  built  rests  on  them.  If  the 
people  whose  whole  social  and  economic  life  de- 
pends on  the  use  of  roads  do  not  insist  on 
better  ones,  why  should  city  dwellers  and  legis- 
lators build  them. 

The  practical  help  and  increased  knowledge 
needed  by  the  women  to  give  them  the  ability 
and  initiative  to  improve  their  share  of  the  work 
on  the  farm  has  been  gained  from  the  Movable 
Schools  in  Home  Economics  held  at  the  school 
house  every  year.  These  schools,  like  the  agri- 
cultural schools,  are  sent  by  the  Extension  De- 
partment of  the  State  Agricultural  College 
under  the  Smith-Lever  Law.  The  schools  are 
managed  by  the  Farm  Women 's  Club ;  and  since 
so  much  of  the  work  takes  the  form  of  demon- 
strations and  since  it  has  to  be  adapted  rather 
minutely  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  immediate 
locality,  the  surrounding  districts  have  not  been 
invited  to  attend  the  school.  But  the  Porter 
mothers  and  older  daughters  always  go  in  full 
force  and  the  audiences  are  as  large  as  the 
teachers  can  handle.  Mrs.  Harvey  prepared  the 


210         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

ground  for  these  courses  much  as  she  did  for 
fhe  classej  in  better  farming.  Besides  the  dem- 
onstration in  the  house-keeping  arrangements 
for  the  school  house  and  for  her  own  cottage, 
many  little  things  were  introduced  in  the  daily 
schoolwork  of  the  children  and  in  the  commun- 
ity gatherings  to  suggest  that  the  women  of  the 
district  were  working  too  hard,  and  were  not 
getting  the  best  results.  "While  the  immediate 
reason  for  the  organization  of  the  Farm  Wo- 
men's Club  was  to  help  Mrs.  Harvey  keep 
the  school  house  in  order  and  make  further 
improvements  there,  she  always  hoped  it 
would  become  a  working  force  for  improved 
homes. 

For  the  first  year  the  club  was  too  busy  carry- 
ing out  its  immediate  program  of  work  for  the 
school  to  be  ready  for  the  course  in  economics. 
But  during  this  time  they  were  becoming  more 
and  more  conscious  that  many  of  their  habits 
of  work  needed  changing,  and  they  could  change 
them  if  they  knew  how.  Finally  the  club 
decided  they  needed  the  knowledge  badly 
enough  to  afford  to  take  the  time  from  their 
work  at  home  in  order  to  go  to  school  for  a 
week.  They  asked  the  university  to  send  a 
movable  school  to  Porter.  The  course  was  held 
in  the  school  house  in  January,  1915.  The  older 


X  J 
H    X 


H 

•/. 


SCHOOL  AND  ECONOMIC  INTERESTS  211 

girls  of  the  school,  as  well  as  their  mothers, 
went  to  the  lectures,  which  were  given  by  two 
women,  experts  in  cooking  and  in  the  care  of 
children.  Both  the  teachers  knew  the  farm  con- 
ditions of  the  state,  and  so  their  demonstrations 
and  suggestions  were  practical  for  the  commun- 
ity. They  gave  cooking  lessons  that  required 
only  the  equipment  and  supplies  they  knew  could 
be  found  in  every  district  kitchen ;  or,  when  they 
suggested  changes,  they  were  always  for  simple 
and  inexpensive  utensils  that  could  be  put  to 
many  uses.  The  lecturer  on  child  care  brought 
a  small  exhibit  with  her,  consisting  of  a  very 
simple  layette  containing  all  the  things  neces- 
sary to  keep  a  little  baby  clean,  attractive  and 
healthy.  She  explained  the  best  way  to  make 
and  use  the  things,  why  they  were  arranged  as 
they  were,  and  how  much  they  cost.  The  cook- 
ing teacher  gave  a  demonstration  with  a  fireless 
cooker,  the  first  seen  in  the  district.  This 
aroused  so  much  skeptical  interest  that  the  men 
were  invited  to  come  to  school  to  dinner  that 
day  in  order  to  learn  that  the  machine  could 
cook  good  food,  in  ample  quantity.  There  was 
a  demonstration  of  salad  making,  showing  the 
women  the  possibilities  for  making  salads  with 
what  they  had  in  their  larders  at  that  time  of 
the  year.  There  were  lectures  on  household  con- 


212         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOB  OLD 

veniences  and  sanitation,  and  one  on  school 
lunches. 

The  district  was  so  pleased  with  the  course 
that  they  decided  to  hold  another  in  the  sum- 
mer to  learn  how  to  can  and  preserve  vegetables. 
The  comments  made  by  some  of  the  women  after 
the  course  showed  how  much  the  work  was 
needed  and  what  good  use  was  to  be  made  of  it. 
One  young  woman  said:  "I  was  most  interested 
in  the  salad  demonstration.  I  had  often  read 
recipes  of  those  salads,  but  so  many  utensils 
were  called  for  that  the  ordinary  farm  house 
did  not  have. "  Another  got  the  most  help  from 
the  lectures  on  children's  diseases  and  home 
nursing.  She  said:  "I  am  especially  thankful 
for  the  advice  given  in  regard  to  the  proper 
food  for  our  little  son.  Since  then  he  has  suf- 
fered less."  Several  spoke  of  the  fact  that 
everything  that  was  suggested  could  be  done  in 
their  homes  with  the  utensils  that  they  already 
owned;  and  also  that  the  course  put  a  new  in- 
terest and  ambition  into  their  daily  work  and 
lifted  it  above  a  daily  grind.  The  mother  of  a 
very  large  family,  with  a  little  baby  several 
years  younger  than  the  rest  of  the  children,  lays 
the  superior  health  and  the  easy  bringing  up 
of  this  baby  to  the  things  that  she  has  learned 
through  the  school  and  from  the  short  courses. 


SCHOOL  AND  ECONOMIC  INTERESTS  213 

The  baby  is  much  stronger,  healthier  and  more 
good-natured  than  her  other  babies,  she  says; 
and  the  best  part  of  it  is  that  the  right  way  to 
treat  a  baby  is  the  easiest  way.  Her  other  chil- 
dren she  carried  in  her  arms  and  jiggled  and 
patted  and  fed  whenever  they  were  hungry,  and 
she  dressed  them  up  in  long  and  elaborate 
clothes.  This  child  follows  a  schedule,  is  not 
picked  up  if  he  frets  a  little  and  wears  the  sim- 
plest clothing.  The  baby  is  so  well,  so  amiable 
and  so  pretty,  that  he  has  convinced  every  man 
and  woman  in  Porter  of  the  good  sense  of  bring- 
ing up  children  according  to  the  best  rules  of 
health  and  hygiene. 

There  are  certain  very  concrete  gauges  of  the 
material  benefit  the  Porter  community  has 
reaped  from  the  activities  carried  on  by  the  new 
school  which  indicate  that  the  economic  condi- 
tions have  improved  along  with  the  social. 
Since  the  school  was  started  real  estate  values 
in  the  Porter  district  have  increased  about  five 
dollars  an  acre.  Real  estate  dealers  in  adver- 
tising property  in  the  vicinity  are  pretty  sure 
to  mention  the  fact  that  it  is  in  or  near  the  Por- 
ter School  district.  In  the  early  spring  of  1918 
the  state  movement  for  country  organizations 
under  the  Federal  Farm  Loan  Act  was  launched 
at  Porter  for  Adair  county  because,  as  the  pro- 


214         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOE  OLD 

moters  said:  "We  can  do  this  through  the  Por- 
ter fanners,  for  they  are  ready  to  take  hold  of 
any  progressive  measure. "  The  spirit  of  prog- 
ress and  cooperation  of  the  farmers  of  this  com- 
munity has  become  known  throughout  the  state. 
Running  water  and  furnaces  have  been  installed 
in  several  homes,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  there 
has  been  a  succession  of  bad  years  since  the 
reorganization  of  the  school.  Vegetable  gar- 
dens, small  fruits,  and  canning  and  preserving 
have  come  into  use  with  the  new  school.  Co- 
operative farming  has  saved  the  farmers  con- 
siderable money  when  it  has  been  tried.  New 
crops  have  been  introduced,  and  much  of  the 
former  soil  mining  has  been  stopped.  Many  of 
the  children  are  making  ample  spending  money 
with  their  chicken  raising.  The  spirit  of  local 
pride  and  the  feeling  that  they  are  part  of  an 
active  and  responsible  community  has  done 
much  to  develop  the  ambition  and  self-confi- 
dence of  all  the  people,  and  this  is  sure  to  bring 
further  practical  results  in  raising  the  standard 
of  living  and  of  professional  achievement. 

But  the  history  of  the  establishment  of  the 
community  as  a  working  group  with  unified 
ideals  and  a  fine  spirit  of  progress  and  friendli- 
ness is  not  complete  without  an  outline  of  the 
struggle  and  misunderstandings  that  Mrs.  Har- 


SCHOOL  AND  ECONOMIC  INTERESTS  215 

vey  and  her  supporters  have  had  to  meet.  We 
have  seen  that  when  the  first  arrangements  were 
made  for  the  reorganization  of  the  school  there 
was  in  a  number  of  homes  either  active  opposi- 
tion to  her  coming  or  skepticism  as  to  the  length 
of  time  she  would  stay.  The  futile  threats  of 
the  opponents  of  the  new  school  and  their  half- 
hearted efforts  to  stop  the  work  of  remaking 
the  building  in  the  summer  of  1912  were  fol- 
lowed by  the  stormy  election  of  directors  in  the 
winter  when  a  man  was  elected  to  take  the  place 
of  the  retiring  director  and  oppose  anything  the 
other  two  or  Mrs.  Harvey  proposed.  In  Aug- 
ust, 1913,  the  board  elected  Mrs.  Harvey  for  her 
second  year.  A  petition  signed  by  all  the  par- 
ents of  the  children  in  school  asked  for  the 
retention  of  Mrs.  Harvey  as  teacher.  The  new 
director  refused  to  vote  or  to  state  his  reasons 
for  not  voting,  but  hinted  at  hidden  reasons, 
which  he  was  too  considerate  and  virtuous  to 
explain.  For  the  first  few  years  this  type  of 
subterranean  defamation  of  the  teacher's  char- 
acter was  indulged  in  quite  freely  by  a  few  fam- 
ilies in  the  district.  She  recognized  this  as  a 
favorite  method  of  ignorant  country  people  who 
wished  to  attack  a  teacher,  and  decided  to  stop 
it  by  meeting  it  in  the  open.  At  the  free  text- 
book meeting  the  lawyer  explained  to  the 


216          NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

voters  the  meaning  of  slander  and  libel,  and,  il- 
lustrating his  point  with  remarks  that  had  been 
made  in  Porter,  gave  the  penalty  for  such  of- 
fenses. Again,  at  a  school  election,  the  teacher 
read  a  newspaper  clipping  giving  an  account  of 
a  suit  for  slander  with  large  damages  won  by  a 
rural  teacher  in  another  part  of  the  state.  This 
secret  undermining  of  the  school  by  personal 
abuse  ceased  when  it  was  discovered  that  Mrs. 
Harvey  was  not  afraid  and  that  those  who  were 
indulging  in  it  had  more  to  lose  than  she. 

Later  in  the  same  August  a  school  meeting 
was  held  at  the  suggestion  of  some  patrons  to 
vote  on  taking  advantage  of  the  free  text-book 
law.  This  law  provides  that  money  from  taxes 
on  foreign  insurance  companies  can  be  applied 
to  buying  text-books  for  pupils  in  districts 
where  application  is  made.  At  the  meeting  the 
law  was  read  and  carefully  explained  by  a  law- 
yer, who  emphasized  the  fact  that  making  the 
application  would  free  each  home  from  the  bur- 
den of  buying  the  children  school  books  and  that 
the  money  could  not  be  obtained  for  any  other 
purpose.  But,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  most 
articulate  objection  to  the  new  school  was  that 
it  was  spending  too  much  money,  the  opposing 
faction  voted  in  a  body  against  making  the  ap- 
plication. They  were  there  in  greater  numbers 


SCHOOL  AND  ECONOMIC  INTERESTS  217 

than  the  supporters  of  the  school,  who  did  not 
think  the  move  of  much  importance  one  way  or 
the  other  and  were  occupied  with  the  rush  of 
harvesting.  Besides  showing  the  extent  to 
which  the  opposition  to  the  school  was  unrea- 
soning and  prejudiced,  the  meeting  served  the 
wholesome  purpose  of  showing  the  school's 
friends  that  their  interest  must  be  actively  ex- 
pressed, or  a  vote  might  be  lost  sometime  when 
the  issue  was  vital,  through  the  same  sort  of 
carelessness. 

The  directors'  meeting  and  the  elections  of 
the  teacher  or  the  directors  have  been  the  oc- 
casion when  opponents  have  tried  to  stop  the 
progress  of  the  school  either  by  electing  two  of 
the  three  directors  or  making  such  a  row  that 
the  supporters  of  the  school  would  be  afraid  to 
continue  working.  But  the  text-book  meeting 
showed  that  some  active  campaign  to  uphold  the 
school  and  its  policies  was  necessary.  Conse- 
quently the  school  patrons  organized  into  a 
working  group  who  were  quite  willing  to  adopt 
any  honest  political  tricks  that  were  necessary 
to  keep  Mrs.  Harvey  in  Porter.  It  was  well  that 
they  learned  their  lesson  when  they  did,  because 
the  following  spring  another  director  who  had 
helped  in  the  reorganization  of  the  school  went 
out  of  office.  This  left  one  director  in  favor  of 


218         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOB  OLD 

the  new  school  and  one  against,  and  one  to  be 
elected.  Both  sides  chose  candidates  they  felt 
sure  of,  on  the  plain  issue  of  whether  Mrs.  Har- 
vey should  be  retained  as  teacher.  The  oppon- 
ents talked  and  talked  of  the  dangers  of  in- 
creased taxation  and  spread  a  lot  of  rumors, 
among  them  one  that  the  district  under  the 
teacher's  influence  was  planning  to  vote  the 
bonds  for  a  fifty- thousand-dollar  high  school. 
The  night  of  the  school  election,  every  man, 
woman  and  child  in  Porter  was  packed  into  the 
school  house.  The  atmosphere  was  tense  with 
excitement  as  the  votes  for  the  rival  candidates 
were  counted.  The  director  who  was  in  favor 
of  the  new  school  was  elected  by  one  vote,  the 
count  standing  twenty-six  to  twenty-seven. 
Even  at  this  meeting  there  were  two  or  three 
fathers  who  did  not  vote,  but  with  these  excep- 
tions, every  father  with  pupils  in  the  school 
voted  for  the  man  who  would  support  Mrs.  Har- 
vey. 

Every  school  election  since  that  second  year 
has  had  a  larger  and  larger  majority  for  the 
new  school ;  and,  while  there  are  still  a  few  fam- 
ilies who  oppose  and  object  to  everything  that 
smacks  of  progress,  the  days  when  school  meet- 
ings meant  the  stirring  up  of  the  bitterest  feel- 
ings in  the  district  and  were  attended  in  fear 


SCHOOL  AND  ECONOMIC  INTERESTS  219 

and  anger  are  rapidly  disappearing.  In  1917 
the  vote  for  the  new  school  was  two  to  one  and 
in  1918  almost  three  to  one ;  both  meetings  were 
dispatched  promptly,  with  dignity  and  accord- 
ing to  parliamentary  usage.  In  the  early  years 
of  the  school  votes  were  challenged  in  large 
numbers  at  elections;  this  has  entirely  ceased. 
Twice  opponents  have  made  complaints  before 
the  county  Grand  Jury,  charging  illegal  voting 
for  school  directors.  On  both  occasions  the 
charges  were  not  supported  by  evidence  and  the 
cases  were  dismissed.  Two  families  sent  their 
children  to  Porter,  believing  that  a  change  of 
teachers  would  stop  the  neighborhood  feuds  and 
would  not  interfere  with  the  progress  of  the 
school.  The  father  of  one  of  these  felt  so  sure 
that  the  school  was  merely  extravagant  and 
fancy  that  he  reluctantly  consented  to  sending 
his  small  son,  but  said  that  his  son  should  never 
ride  in  the  school  wagon.  The  boy,  however,  be- 
lieved in  the  school,  regretted  the  days  when  he 
had  to  stay  home,  and  filled  all  his  home  play 
with  things  he  learned  at  school.  Pointing  to  his 
father,  he  also  repeated  with  gentle  insistence 
at  every  gathering,  * '  that  man  has  got  to  let  me 
ride  in  the  school  wagon. ' '  This  the  man  soon 
did,  and  now  he  takes  his  turn  with  the  other 
farmers  driving  the  wagon.  He  has  been  com- 


220         NEW  SCHOOLS'  FOB  OLD 

pletely  won  over  by  what  the  school  has  done 
for  and  has  meant  to  his  boy.  The  other  family, 
seeing  the  rapid  progress  in  lessons  and  the  per- 
sonal improvement  as  well  as  the  intense  pleas- 
ure of  the  children  in  the  school,  is  almost 
converted.  One  of  the  main  causes  for  grumb- 
ling left  to  the  opponents  of  the  school  is  that 
there  are  no  graduation  exercises.  The  chil- 
dren keep  right  on  going  to  school,  and  start 
high  school  when  they  finish  the  eighth-grade 
work ;  but  it  is  considered  a  sign  of  poor  teach- 
ing that  Porter  does  not  graduate  anybody, 
while  the  neighboring  schools,  with  much  less 
equipment,  turn  out  four  or  five  pupils  every 
year.  Another  cause  of  complaint  is  the  fact 
that  Mrs.  Harvey  has  the  assistance  of  Miss  Cre- 
celius  and  often  that  of  one  or  two  other  young 
women  whom  she  is  training  as  rural  teachers, 
and  that  these  women  teach  classes  that  Mrs. 
Harvey  is  paid  to  teach.  In  fact,  everything 
that  happens  or  does  not  happen  can  be  made  an 
excuse  for  fault-finding  by  a  group  of  people 
who  oppose  out  of  sheer  obstinacy,  without 
knowing  or  wanting  to  know  what  it  is  they 
are  against. 

The  history  of  the  feud  over  the  school  would 
make  an  exciting  story,  told  in  detail.  What  has 
been  told  is  enough  to  indicate  that  typical  rural 


SCHOOL  AND  ECONOMIC  INTERESTS  221 

conditions  have  been  met  and  conquered.  It  is 
often  said  that  the  greatest  hindrance  to  prog- 
ress in  country  schools  is  the  fact  that  the  farm- 
ers themselves  are  opposed  to  good  schools  or, 
at  least,  so  suspicious  of  any  change,  that  it 
amounts  to  opposition.  Many  a  teacher  has 
given  up  an  attempt  at  some  improvement  when 
she  saw  the  hornet's  nest  of  ancient  feuds  and 
fear  of  taxes  that  it  stirred  up.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  if  changes  are  to  be  made  in  spite  of 
the  prejudice  and  ignorance  that  is  still  very 
common  in  country  districts,  the  teacher  must 
prepare  herself  for  a  fearless  stand.  But  it  is 
even  more  important  that  she  live  in  the  district 
and  become  a  real  member  of  it  and  that  she 
learn  to  know  the  people  and  their  conditions 
thoroughly.  If  she  does  this  and  takes  the  time 
to  find  out  what  is  most  needed  and  then  starts 
her  changes  and  improvements  from  that  angle, 
she  is  pretty  sure  to  find  a  large  enough  group 
of  staunch  supporters  and  co-workers  who  ap- 
preciate the  value  of  a  real  education  for  their 
children  and  will  work  for  the  building  up  of 
a  community  social  life.  The  outline  of  the 
struggle  Porter  has  made  is  sufficient  to  indi- 
cate that  typical  country  difficulties,  family 
feuds,  religious  differences,  an  over  conserva- 
tive spirit,  and  inability  to  look  forward  or 


222         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

change  old  habits,  are  no  more  inherent  in  the 
country  dweller's  character,  than  many  other 
symptoms  of  isolation,  lack  of  opportunity  and 
social  outlet,  which  are  the  result  of  conditions, 
not  their  cause.  Wherever  there  are  numbers 
of  people  gathered  together  there  is  bound  to 
exist  a  good  deal  of  difference  of  opinion  and 
beliefs  and  even  instinctive  antagonism  between 
individuals.  But  the  Porter  demonstration  has 
proven  that  a  country  community  is  as  capable 
of  uniting  for  a  common  purpose,  and  overcom- 
ing habitual  differences  when  interesting  gen- 
eral issues  are  substituted  for  petty  personal 
ones  as  any  group  of  people.  Porter  stands  out 
throughout  the  state  of  Missouri  as  an  example 
of  the  possibilities  for  growth  and  achievement 
that  are  latent  in  every  country  community,  and 
which  need  only  the  guidance  of  a  sympathetic 
and  public-spirited  teacher  to  be  harnessed  to 
progressive  and  constructive  work. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  SCHOOL  PROGRAM  AND  ORGANIZATION 

WHAT  the  Porter  School  has  accomplished  has 
been  done  with  material  available  in  any  coun- 
try district  and  with  the  same  difficulties  to 
overcome.  If  other  rural  teachers  are  to  reap 
the  benefit  of  Mrs.  Harvey's  work,  this  cannot 
be  too  often  emphasized,  for  if  we  look  at  the 
results  it  is  hard  to  believe  that  conditions  were 
not  more  favorable  for  her  than  for  most  coun- 
try teachers.  She  has  met  all  the  typical  rural 
school  problems  and  has  worked  out  methods  of 
dealing  with  them  that  not  only  minimize  their 
bad  points  but  that  take  advantage  of  every 
element  of  possible  educational  value  to  the 
children.  The  school  is  small  and  must  always 
remain  so,  for  the  district  is  only  three  miles 
square;  and  in  grain  sections  the  number  of 
farms  does  not  increase  much.  A  small  district 
is  more  expensive  than  a  large  one  because  it 
is  impossible,  managing  for  a  few  pupils,  to  take 
advantage  of  certain  economies  of  running  and 
maintenance.  Everything  must  be  bought  in 

233 


224         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

small  quantities,  and  the  up-keep  of  the  build- 
ing would  be  very  little  increased  by  increase  in 
its  size.  The  small  sum  that  is  available  does 
not  go  as  far  as  it  would  in  a  larger  plant.  At 
first  Mrs.  Harvey  was  the  only  teacher  for  eight 
grades,  all  studying  in  the  same  room ;  and  she 
had  to  cope  with  the  task  of  teaching  all  the  les- 
sons and  managing  all  the  different  ages  at 
once.  Weather  and  long  distances  affected  the 
Porter  pupils  just  as  much  as  the  children  of 
every  country  district.  Often  the  little  children 
could  not  get  to  school  in  winter  because  of  the 
cold  and  snow;  in  the  spring,  when  the  roads 
were  bad,  the  school  was  nearly  empty.  The 
schooling  of  the  older  pupils,  especially  the 
boys,  has  always  been  interrupted  in  the  spring 
and  fall  by  the  farm  work  at  home.  Families 
bought  their  own  text-books  and  supplies,  which 
made  it  very  difficult  to  accumulate  a  library  or 
any  supplementary  reference  material,  and 
there  was  no  uniformity  in  paper,  pencils,  or 
note-books.  Traditional  notions  of  a  school's 
service  made  the  parents  unwilling  to  buy  sup- 
plies with  any  generosity  and  teachers  had  been 
too  inefficient  or  too  temporary  to  build  up  a 
new  attitude  toward  the  school.  The  fam- 
ilies of  the  district  have  always  been  able 
to  buy  necessary  supplies,  but  their  school  had 


PROGRAM  AND  ORGANIZATION    225 

been    so    poor   that   practically   nothing   was 
necessary. 

The  first  step  Mrs.  Harvey  took  in  meeting  all 
these  problems  was  to  look  at  them  with  a  fresh 
point  of  view,  unhampered  by  precedent  and 
habit  She  did  not  look  around  to  see  what  other 
teachers  did,  or  what  the  school  administrators, 
living  in  cities,  advised ;  but  she  looked  at  Por- 
ter and  the  particular  setting  she  found  there. 
In  attempting  a  reorganization  along  these  lines 
she  had  the  hearty  cooperation  of  the  county 
superintendent.  Then,  with  a  mind  open  to  try 
any  solutions  that  promised  to  give  her  pupils 
the  best  chance,  she  set  to  work  with  what  she 
found  to  overcome  her  difficulties,  or,  if  this  was 
impossible,  to  increase  her  resources.  To  do 
this  effectively,  two  things  were  necessary:  to 
live  in  the  district ;  and,  by  letting  the  children 
share  her  difficulties,  to  turn  the  difficulties  into 
lessons.  It  was  necessary  for  her  to  live  in  the 
district  because  as  a  boarder  in  a  farm  house 
she  could  never  have  the  leisure  and  independ- 
ence necessary  for  all  the  work  she  saw  ahead, 
and  because,  in  order  to  understand  conditions 
thoroughly  enough  to  use  every  local  situation 
in  her  teaching,  she  must  become  a  member  of 
the  community,  with  the  mutual  interests  that  a 
home  in  it  would  give.  To  Mrs.  Harvey,  the  job 


226         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

of  a  rural  teacher  is  to  give  an  education  to 
every  child  in  the  district,  not  simply  to  conduct 
classes  in  the  school  house  so  many  months  a 
year.  When  the  district  conditions  became  fa- 
miliar to  her  and  she  knew  their  significance  in 
the  lives  of  the  people,  she  would  see  ways  in 
which  even  the  problems  often  considered  hard- 
est to  meet  could  be  solved,  and  their  solution 
made  to  contribute  to  the  success  of  her  under- 
taking. She  knew  that  working  with  the  chil- 
dren and  their  parents  on  difficulties  would  help 
establish  habits  of  cooperation  and  a  unified 
community  sentiment.  Perhaps  one  reason  she 
succeeded  so  easily  in  the  organization  of  her 
school  is  that  she  never  made  the  mistake  of  see- 
ing it  as  a  miniature  town  school,  and  of  trying 
to  force  upon  it  programs  and  methods  feasible 
only  in  a  building  with  separated  grades,  sev- 
eral teachers  and  regular  attendance.  She 
recognized  that  many  devices  recommended  for 
rural  schools,  like  alternating  grades  and  busy 
work,  were  simply  attempts  to  make  a  one-room 
school  work  and  look  as  if  it  were  a  graded 
school ;  and  that  they  tended  to  perpetuate  the 
very  difficulties  they  were  designed  to  over- 
come. 

In  Porter  the  problem  of  transportation  was 
particularly  serious,  because  the  roads  are  so 


PROGRAM  AND  ORGANIZATION    227 

very  bad  and  because  many  homes  are  situated 
on  the  edge  of  the  district,  obliging  the  children 
to  come  the  longest  possible  distance  to  school. 
The  arguments  for  cooperative  transportation 
are  so  familiar  to  every  country  teacher  that  it 
is  only  necessary  to  point  out  that  they  apply 
f  o  the  one-room  school  as  well  as  the  larger  con- 
solidated school.  Every  community  should  feel 
the  necessity  of  protecting  the  physical  and 
moral  health  of  its  children  by  seeing  that  they 
are  taken  safely  to  and  from  school  when  dis- 
tances are  great  and  weather  and  roads  bad.  A 
school  can  function  efficiently  only  when  pupils 
are  able  to  attend  regularly  and  punctually. 
Mrs.  Harvey  proposed  voluntary  cooperative 
transportation  to  the  patrons  to  her  school  as 
the  best  solution  of  the  problem.  She  agreed 
to  find  the  wagon  if  the  families  along  the  roads 
where  the  center  of  the  school  population  was 
would  furnish  the  team  and  service.  She  ob- 
tained a  standard  type  of  bus,  built  especially 
for  rural  school  use.  The  wagon  seats  about 
twenty  children  and  is  fitted  with  comfortable 
cushions  and  storm  curtains.  The  first  year  the 
team  and  driver,  a  school  boy,  were  furnished 
by  a  family  with  four  children  in  school.  The 
next  two  years  the  families  along  the  route  paid 
a  boy  a  nominal  sum  to  drive.  He  used  his  team 


228         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

and  attended  school.  The  contract  has  always 
been  for  six  months.  When  the  rush  of  farm 
work  is  heaviest,  in  the  spring  and  fall,  the  men 
and  boys  of  the  district  take  turns  in  furnishing 
the  team  and  driving  the  wagon  to  and  from 
school.  In  this  way  each  family  does  its  share 
towards  transportation.  The  wagon  runs  on  a 
schedule  and  follows  the  same  route  every  day 
so  that  the  children  can  be  ready  and  waiting 
when  it  passes.  By  following  an  indirect  route 
it  is  able  to  pick  up  all  the  children  from  more 
than  half  the  district,  for  if  it  does  not  pass  the 
house  the  children  go  to  the  nearest  point  that 
the  wagon  passes  and  are  saved  much  of  the 
walk. 

The  wagon  has  proved  such  a  saving  in  time 
and  comfort  that  the  big  school  wagon  runs 
from  the  time  school  opens  in  the  fall  until  it 
closes  in  the  summer.  Mrs.  Harvey  and  the 
parents  all  feel  that  it  more  than  repays  the 
trouble  involved.  All  the  children  are  spared 
exposure  to  extremes  of  weather  and  the  little 
ones  do  not  have  to  overtax  themselves  daily 
by  a  walk  that  is  too  long  for  them.  The  pupils 
on  the  edge  of  the  district  do  not  have  to  leave 
home  so  early  in  the  morning,  and  they  reach 
home  much  earlier  at  night.  Since  school  does 
not  close  until  four  o'clock,  if  they  had  to  walk 


PROGRAM  AND  ORGANIZATION    229 

they  could  not  reach  home  until  after  dark.  The 
parents  are  spared  worry  about  their  children 
and  the  children  are  ill  less  often.  From  the 
school  standpoint  the  gain  is  very  large:  the 
children  arrive  at  school  fresh  and  rested  for 
their  lessons.  Weather  is  eliminated  as  a  cause 
of  absence,  for  when  conditions  permit  any  chil- 
dren to  come  to  school,  they  permit  alL 
Without  transportation,  only  the  sturdiest  chil- 
dren and  those  living  near,  would  go  to  school  in 
the  worst  weather;  as  a  result,  the  school  runs 
at  half  or  third  force  for  two  or  three  days,  and 
the  children  present  have  to  be  held  back  to  let 
those  absent  catch  up  on  their  return  to  school. 
The  wagon,  however,  has  made  attendance  at 
Porter  as  reliable  as  it  would  be  in  a  city  school. 
It  has  also  proved  very  useful  to  the  whole 
community,  as  it  is  available  for  any  use 
out  of  school  hours.  Groups  of  neighbors  often 
use  it  for  community  gatherings  instead  of  tak- 
ing a  team  for  each  household,  and  the  band  al- 
ways uses  it  in  the  summer  for  its  engagements 
in  near-by  districts. 

Some  such  solution  of  the  transportation 
problem  is  necessary  before  even  one-room 
schools  can  run  efficiently  in  sparsely  settled  re- 
gions. The  complete  overthrow  of  the  school 
program  that  often  results  when  pupils  are  at 


230         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOE  OLD 

the  mercy  of  distance  and  weather  introduces 
such  a  stumbling  block  into  the  conduct  of  any 
school  that  it  should  be  eliminated  at  any  cost. 
Mrs.  Harvey  was  at  a  great  advantage  in  being 
in  a  position  where  she  could  obtain  a  wagon 
immediately,  but  any  district  which  is  inter- 
ested enough  in  getting  its  children  to  school 
easily,  to  be  willing  to  cooperate  in  running  a 
wagon  could,  by  careful  planning,  raise  the 
money  necessary  for  its  purchase.  And  any 
teacher  who  saw  her  work  as  a  real  all-the-year- 
around  job,  involving  her  in  permanent  respon- 
sibilities, could  bring  the  district  to  the  point 
of  wanting  the  wagon  and  could  find  a  way  by 
which  the  district  might  own  one.  The  ease 
with  which  this  difficulty  was  solved  as  soon  as 
a  teacher  with  a  constructive  purpose  came  to 
Porter  is  another  indication  of  the  necessity  of 
a  teacher-leader  in  order  to  enable  a  community 
to  effect  its  reorganization.  Parents  had  always 
worried  about  the  hardship  to  their  children  of 
walking  to  and  from  school,  yet  they  had  taken 
no  steps  to  change  the  situation  since  they 
thought  of  the  school  as  no  immediate  business 
of  theirs  and  had  no  habits  of  working  together. 
The  older  boys  do  not  enter  school  until  after 
the  crops  are  gathered  and  they  leave  in  the 
spring  as  soon  as  the  ground  is  soft  enough  for 


PROGRAM  AND  ORGANIZATION    231 

ploughing.  There  are  few  farmers  in  any  dis- 
trict rich  enough  or  poor  enough  to  be  able  to 
dispense  with  the  labor  the  members  of  the  fam- 
ily contribute  to  the  farm.  At  planting  and  har- 
vesting times  the  pressure  to  get  a  great  deal 
of  work  done  in  a  very  short  time  makes  it  in- 
evitable that  every  available  worker  should  be 
pressed  into  service.  Most  boys  thirteen  years 
of  age  are  capable  of  doing  productive  farm 
work;  hence,  until  there  is  a  radical  change  in 
farm  methods  these  boys  must  expect  to  stay  at 
home  during  the  rush  seasons.  This  is  a  per- 
manent and  stable  condition  which  the  country 
schools  should  recognize.  The  usual  way  of 
meeting  it  is  to  ignore  it  and  conduct  the  schools 
so  that  the  boys  are  made  to  feel  in  the  wrong, 
as  if  they  had  no  right  to  expect  to  be  students 
so  long  as  they  persist  in  ploughing  and  har- 
vesting. Mrs.  Harvey  sees  that  it  is  no  more 
fair  to  do  this  than  it  would  be  for  her  to  open 
the  school  house  on  legal  holidays,  go  through 
the  form  of  conducting  lessons  in  an  empty 
room  and  then  blame  the  children  for  what  they 
had  missed  when  they  did  come  back.  She  also 
thinks  it  is  especially  important  to  make  some 
provision  for  these  very  boys,  since  they  must 
begin  work  at  home  before  the  age  when  they 
can  afford  to  stop  systematic  study.  If  the  sit- 


232         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOB  OLD 

nation  is  accepted  by  assuming  that  the  boys 
mnst  work  and  then  doing  nothing  to  adjust  the 
program  to  enable  them  to  continue  in  spite  of 
these  interruptions  they  simply  drop  out  of 
school  entirely  after  one  or  two  long  absences. 
Once  started  in  the  routine  of  hard  farm  labor, 
the  tendency  is  to  let  other  interests  slide  and 
to  settle  to  a  life  of  monotonous  work.  If  adult 
farmers  need  a  sympathetic  leader  to  show  them 
how  to  balance  their  lives  properly  between 
work  and  developing  intellectual  and  recrea- 
tional interests,  how  much  more  necessary  it  is 
that  some  provision  be  made  to  keep  alive  the 
cultural  interests  of  young  boys  who  start  work 
at  the  most  sensitive  and  impressionable  age. 
Therefore,  feeling  that  it  is  impracticable  to 
work  to  make  this  portion  of  the  school  attend- 
ance continuous,  Mrs.  Harvey  sought  ways  for 
these  boys  to  keep  up  their  school  work  in  spite 
of  the  fact  that  they  cannot  come  back  to  school 
until  late  in  the  fall  and  must  leave  early  in  the 
spring. 

Meeting  this  situation  has  been  one  of  the 
hardest  tasks  the  teacher  has  had  at  Porter;  it 
has  meant  complicating  the  work  inside  the 
school  room  and  adding  much  outside  work  to 
an  already  overcrowded  program.  The  effect 
on  the  boys  has  justified  the  effort  and  made 


PROGRAM  AND  ORGANIZATION    233 

the  work  seem  light.  Every  boy  in  the  older 
group  is  now  a  real  working  member  of  the  Por- 
ter comnranity,  with  ambitions  and  training  to 
back  him  and  with  a  splendid  belief  in  his  own 
powers  for  making  farm  life  interesting  both 
socially  and  financially.  We  have  seen  how 
Mrs.  Harvey  gained  the  interest  of  the  young 
people  who  thought  they  had  finished  school  by 
offering  to  help  them  make  up  any  subject  they 
had  been  behind  in  or  go  ahead  in  anything  that 
particularly  interested  them.  Once  this  group 
was  inside  the  school  house  their  development 
with  the  rest  of  the  pupils  followed  as  a  matter 
of  course  because  of  the  way  they  were  taught. 
They  came  to  think  of  the  school  as  a  place 
where  they  could  come  at  any  time  even  for  a 
few  days,  and  where  they  could  learn  a  great 
many  interesting  things  that  made  their  days 
of  hard  work  at  home  seem  short  because  they 
gave  food  for  thought  and  a  knowledge  of  how 
to  do  the  work  better  and  more  easily.  Now  as 
boys  begin  to  reach  the  age  when  they  stay  at 
home  to  help  they  do  not  feel  that  they  are  stop- 
ping school  or  that  their  comrades-  will  be  so 
far  ahead  of  them  that  there  is  no  use  going 
back.  They  know  that  whenever  they  can  go 
to  school  they  will  find  a  teacher  who  under- 
stands their  absences  and  who  will  help  them 


234         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

take  up  their  work  where  they  left  off,  regard- 
less of  the  progress  of  the  others  in  their  class. 
Their  school  work  goes  on  as  a  continuous  thing 
in  spite  of  their  interrupted  attendance. 

Throughout  the  school  Mrs.  Harvey  groups- 
the  children  according  to  their  proficiency  in 
each  subject :  a  child  who  is  backward  in  arith- 
metic does  not  have  to  do  work  that  is  too  easy 
for  him  in  all  other  subjects,  but  has  each  lesson 
with  a  group  whose  skill  is  equal  to  his.  With 
the  older  children  this  is  carried  to  the  point 
where  each  pupil  is  in  a  class  alone,  if  neces- 
sary. The  work  has  taught  the  children  how  to 
study  and  how  to  use  their  own  initiative  and 
ingenuity  in  their  work,  so  they  do  not  need  con- 
stant supervision.  Since  they  are  always  at 
work  on  something  that  interests  them  and  of 
which  they  can  see  the  value,  it  is  not  necessary 
to  set  a  lesson  and  then  have  them  recite  it  in 
order  to  make  sure  that  they  are  keeping  at 
work.  During  the  winter  months  when  older 
boys  and  girls  are  at  school  in  full  force,  they 
work  along  together  as  a  class  and  Mrs.  Harvey 
meets  them  for  long  enough  periods  for  satis- 
factory discussions  and  recitations.  When  the 
boys  begin  to  drop  out  the  girls  go  on  with  the 
work  that  they  have  started,  working  as  individ- 
uals and  going  to  the  teacher  for  comment  and 


PROGRAM  AND  ORGANIZATION    235 

suggestion  and  for  help  in  small  matters. 
When  a  rainy  day  brings  the  whole  class  back 
to  school  the  boys  will  go  on  with  their  reading 
or  note-book  work,  and  Mrs.  Harvey  will  make 
time  to  have  a  history  or  literature  lesson  with 
the  group  as  a  whole.  She  conducts  this  class 
so  that  it  will  cover  a  discussion  of  one  topic, 
and  calls  on  the  children  who  have  been  in 
school  regularly  to  summarize  the  subject,  so 
that  the  hour  serves  as  a  review  to  keep  the  boys 
in  touch  with  the  daily  work  and  enables  them 
to  interpret  their  seatwork.  The  individual 
work  is  suited  to  the  needs  of  each  particular 
pupil.  A  girl  of  fifteen  who  can  get  to  school 
only  rarely,  because  the  management  of  the  en- 
tire household  falls  upon  her,  does  not  spend 
her  time  when  there  working  algebra  problems 
in  a  feverish  haste  to  catch  up  with  girls  who  are 
able  to  finish  an  entire  course  in  algebra.  Mrs. 
Harvey  will  indicate  for  her  the  most  significant 
chapters  in  the  books  the  class  has  been  reading 
and  tell  her  about  the  things  of  interest  to  her 
which  the  others  have  put  in  their  note-books ; 
and  then  she  spends  the  day  reading  and  copy- 
ing into  her  own  note-books  the  things  she 
wants.  A  few  minutes'  talk  with  the  teacher 
about  her  personal  problems  and  difficulties  will 
usually  suggest  to  her  new  ways  in  which  she 


236         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

can  make  use  of  the  things  she  is  learning  and 
meet  her  work  with  new  courage  and  intelli- 
gence. The  work  for  the  boys  is  managed  in  the 
same  way;  there  is  no  attempt  made  to  have 
them  remember  enough  of  a  text-book  to 
weather  a  quiz  on  it.  But  they  are  given  an  op- 
portunity to  review  the  salient  points  of  the 
lessons  they  have  missed,  and  to  get  in  form  to 
be  permanently  available  the  particular  things, 
facts,  or  literary  selections  that  will  be  useful 
to  them  in  their^lives  outside  of  school. 

Recognizing  that  it  is  an  impossible  task  for 
these  pupils  to  complete  in  their  occasional 
school  days  any  subject  so  that  they  could  pass 
a  state  or  high  school  examination,  Mrs.  Har- 
vey still  feels  that  they  have  as  much  right  to 
the  formal  preparation  that  will  enable  them  to 
go  on  with  their  studies  or  get  recognition  for 
what  they  have  done  as  the  more  fortunate  chil- 
dren who  do  not  have  to  work  at  home.  There- 
fore, she  held  night  and  summer  classes  for  the 
pupils  who  wanted  to  "finish"  the  conventional 
school  subjects.  The  first  spring  she  was  in  Por- 
ter she  met  the  boys  who  had  dropped  out  for 
farm  work  every  Friday  night  and  coached  them 
so  that  they  could  pass  examinations.  She 
kept  this  up  for  three  years,  continuing  the 
classes  through  the  summer.  This  enabled  the 


PROGRAM  AND  ORGANIZATION    237 

pupils  who  had  been  handicapped  by  a  bad 
school  to  catch  up  their  lessons  and  acquire  the 
knowledge  that  would  allow  them  to  go  to  high 
school  if  they  were  able,  or  to  make  some  real 
use  of  their  school  life  in  their  daily  work  if 
they  were  not.  The  younger  pupils  will  not  need 
this  extra  work  except  in  rare  individual  cases, 
because  they  are  being  adequately  prepared  by 
their  regular  school  work. 

In  order  to  make  her  country  school  serve  all 
the  youth  of  the  district,  Mrs.  Harvey  no  longer 
graduates  pupils  from  Porter.  This  was  such 
an  innovation  and  the  ideas  that  led  to  it  were 
so  new  to  the  community  that  she  followed  the 
custom  of  the  conventional  school  to  the  extent 
of  having  commencement  exercises  the  first  few 
years.  But  she  has  never  turned  pupils  out  of 
the  school  just  because  they  could  pass  a  set  of 
state  examinations.  For  the  majority  of  coun- 
try children,  school  is  over  when  they  stop  go- 
ing to  the  building  in  their  district.  Yet  there 
is  nothing  in  eighth-grade  lessons  to  suggest 
that  the  pupil  who  has  mastered  them  is 
equipped  to  go  forth  and  take  his  place  as  a 
respectable  and  efficient  citizen,  able  to  under- 
stand his  environment  and  to  use  it  for  ends 
most  worthy  of  himself  and  his  country.  In 
spite  of  the  fact  that  these  children  must  help 


238         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOE  OLD 

with  the  farm  work,  there  are  several  months  a 
year  when  they  are  free  enough  to  find  time  for 
school  a  number  of  years  after  they  normally 
finish  eighth-grade  work.  Although,  as  a  de- 
mocracy, we  claim  to  give  every  one  the  best  of 
chances,  we  say  to  the  farm  child :  Of  course  you 
are  not  educated,  you  should  manage  to  go  to 
high  school,  and,  of  course,  you  will  have  much 
idle  time  for  several  years  to  come,  but  you 
have  finished  eight  grades  and,  therefore,  you 
must  leave  this  school.  With  this  situation  in 
mind,  Mrs.  Harvey  does  not  wish  to  do  any- 
thing to  suggest  to  the  children  or  their  parents 
that  there  is  any  set  time  when  education  is  fin- 
ished and  a  child  can  afford  to  leave  school. 
Therefore,  she  has  stopped  graduating  pupils 
from  Porter.  When  parents  realized  that  her 
reason  for  this  breach  in  custom  was  not  an 
inability  to  teach  advanced  work,  but  a  wish  to 
teach  them  so  much  more,  they  agreed  very  read- 
ily. They  saw  in  it  another  method  by  which 
children  could  be  kept  in  school  under  influences 
that  made  for  an  understanding  and  apprecia- 
tion of  farm  life  as  long  as  they  could  be  spared 
from  the  necessity  of  becoming  self-supporting. 
Mrs.  Harvey  has  never  confined  her  work  to 
having  pupils  recite  the  lessons  from  the 
approved  text-books,  so  there  is  no  definite  mo- 


PROGRAM  AND  ORGANIZATION    239 

ment  when  a  group  of  children  can  be  said  to 
have  finished  the  eighth  grade,  but  the  pupils, 
nevertheless,  cover  the  state  requirement  and 
can  pass  the  recognized  examinations.  Mrs. 
Harvey  knows  at  what  point  in  the  conventional 
curriculum  each  pupil  is,  and  when  the  time 
comes  when  an  individual  must  leave  school  he 
receives  a  certificate  giving  credit  for  all  the 
work  accomplished.  Usually  this  is  a  good  deal 
more  than  eighth-grade  work.  For  she  not  only 
gives  the  older  pupils  work  that  will  help  them 
meet  their  personal  problems,  but  she  gives 
them  high-school  courses  when  they  are  ready 
for  them.  In  1915,  out  of  a  class  of  eight  gradu- 
ates, five  had  done  high-school  work,  four  of 
these  finishing  a  year  of  high-school  work  in 
two  subjects ;  besides  this,  the  English  work  of 
all  the  older  children  is  far  in  advance  of  what 
is  done  in  the  ordinary  graded  school.  When- 
ever possible,  Mrs.  Harvey  has  had  pupils  take 
the  work  as  correspondence  courses  so  that  they 
could  have  the  benefit  of  obtaining  official  credit 
for  it.  Lately,  the  state  board  of  education  has 
recognized  that  the  school  gives  two  years  of 
high-school  work.  Pupils  who  want  to  leave 
home  and  go  to  a  high  or  normal  school,  are 
helped  to  do  so,  but  those  who  cannot  do  so, 
continue  at  Porter  as  long  as  they  can.  The 


240         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

high-school  work  done  by  correspondence 
showed  the  district  the  value  of  allowing  the 
children  to  go  on  with  their  advanced  studies  at 
home,  and  it  taught  them  how  to  make  use  of 
another  public  agency  to  supply  their  needs.  A 
one-room  teacher  can  find  time  to  help  a  few 
pupils  in  doing  the  necessary  work  for  a  cor- 
respondence course  when  it  might  be  utterly  im- 
possible to  make  time  to  plan  and  conduct  the 
entire  course  herself.  This  work  aroused  such 
a  strong  sentiment  in  favor  of  high-school  work 
at  home  that  in  1917  the  district  actually  estab- 
lished a  high  school  in  a  small  shack  near  the 
school  house,  meeting  all  the  conditions  neces- 
sary for  recognition  by  the  state  department  of 
education,  finding  two  extra  teachers,  furnish- 
ing and  caring  for  the  building. 

While  it  is  true  that  Mrs.  Harvey  has  not  been 
the  only  person  teaching  in  the  school  house 
since  the  spring  of  the  first  year,  the  situation 
has  not  been  easier  than  the  typical  one  of  hav- 
ing only  one  teacher.  Mrs.  Harvey  always 
wanted  her  work  at  Porter  to  serve  as  a  prac- 
tical demonstration  to  rural  teachers  of  the 
necessity  of  radical  changes  in  the  one-room 
school  and  of  a  practical  method  of  making 
them.  Therefore,  she  has  spent  a  great  deal  of 
time  away  from  Porter  lecturing  in  normal  col- 


PROGRAM  AND  ORGANIZATION    241 

leges  and  teachers'  institutes,  wherever  there 
was  an  audience  for  her  gospel  of  efficient,  re- 
sponsible teacher-leaders  who  can  give  country 
children  the  chance  they  deserve  to  become  ef- 
fective, prosperous  citizens.  This  has  thrown 
much  of  the  teaching  and  community  work  on 
to  Miss  Crecelius.  Besides  this,  rural  teachers 
and  superintendents  visit  Porter  the  year 
around  to  see  what  has  been  accomplished  and 
the  methods  that  have  been  used.  This  means 
time  from  one  of  the  teachers ;  so  that  although 
two  or  three  different  teachers  are  actually 
teaching  classes,  the  total  of  their  time  does  not 
amount  to  more  than  the  full  time  of  one 
teacher.  At  different  times  two  young  women 
of  the  district  have  worked  in  the  school  in  or- 
der to  get  training  for  the  type  of  community 
service  that  the  school  has  rendered  under  Mrs. 
Harvey.  Both  these  girls  had  suffered  in  the 
old  Porter  school  and  seeing  what  the  new  had 
done  for  the  whole  community,  they  wished  to 
work  with  Mrs.  Harvey  to  learn  how  the  changes 
were  brought  about  so  that  there  might  never 
be  any  danger  of  slipping  back  to  the  old  condi- 
tions of  inefficient  isolation. 

The  contribution  that  the  school  has  made  is 
then  entirely  relevant  to  the  problems  of  the 
usual  teacher  in  a  one-room  school.  Mrs.  Har- 


242         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

vey  has  found  that  having  children  of  all  grades 
in  one  room  not  only  does  not  interfere  with 
efficient  teaching,  but  has  many  advantages 
over  a  graded  school  that  compensate  for  some 
of  its  inevitable  drawbacks.  If  a  teacher  learns 
to  take  advantage  of  opportunities  for  time  sav- 
ing and  for  emphasizing  important  things  that 
arise  in  the  one-room  situation,  she  will  have 
plenty  of  time  to  help  older  pupils  or  arrange 
the  curriculum  as  she  chooses.  "We  have  seen 
how  Mrs.  Harvey  made  use  of  the  fact  that  the 
children  were  all  together  in  building  up  the  at- 
mosphere and  spirit  she  wanted.  To  do  this 
she  had,  of  course,  to  allow  the  pupils  freedom. 
The  children  are  allowed  to  talk  together  as 
long  as  they  do  not  interrupt  others  and  get 
their  work  done.  This  does  away  with  a  great 
many  of  the  demands  for  help  that  a  teacher 
would  have  to  meet  who  attempted  to  enforce  a 
rigid  rule  against  whispering.  Whenever  an 
occasion  arises  to  make  it  possible  or  advisable, 
a  lesson  is  given  to  the  school  as  a  whole. 
Morning  exercises,  for  instance,  are  not  so  much 
an  opportunity  for  the  children  to  practice  re- 
citing and  group  singing  as  they  are  lessons 
which  the  whole  school  shares.  Most  of  the 
work  in  current  events  is  done  at  that  time. 
While  the  youngest  children  may  not  understand 


X 


sac 


PROGRAM  AND  ORGANIZATION    243 

everything  that  is  said,  they  understand  enough 
to  listen  attentively;  indeed,  part  of  the  talk  is 
arranged  especially  for  them.  Local  events  of 
interest  are  discussed  at  the  opening  exercises 
and,  regardless  of  age,  the  pupil  who  has  most 
to  contribute  is  asked  to  speak.  The  history 
lessons  that  grow  out  of  patriotic  programs  are 
within  the  grasp  of  everyone  and  the  discussions 
of  agricultural  problems  and  methods  teach 
something  to  the  little  children  as  well  as  the 
big  ones.  In  fact,  the  young  children  take  great 
pride  in  understanding  as  much  as  they  can  of 
the  more  advanced  work  that  goes  on,  and  teach- 
ers and  children  are  often  surprised  at  the  feat 
of  some  beginner  who  learns  an  advanced  spell- 
ing list  from  the  board  or  memorizes  a  longer 
quotation  than  usual  from  hearing  an  older 
pupil  give  it  at  roll  call. 

The  daily  program  is  never  chopped  into 
minute  recitation  periods;  each  class  has  suf- 
ficient time  to  talk  over  its  lesson,  understand  it 
and  get  at' the  significance  of  what  it  is  learning. 
Mrs.  Harvey  has  two  ways  of  making  time  for 
this  beside  that  of  giving  lessons  to  the  whole 
school  whenever  possible.  The  first  is  to  have 
only  four  or  five  classes  in  the  school  instead  of 
the  traditional  eight.  These  are  called  the  A 
class,  the  B  class,  etc.,  thereby  doing  away  with 


244         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

one  factor  that  would  strongly  suggest  going 
through  a  routine  which  finishes  with  the  eighth 
grade.  Each  one  of  these  classes  corresponds 
roughly  to  two  grades.  The  most  advanced 
pupils  form  one  class  and  take  their  history, 
science  and  agriculture  together,  even  though 
they  represent  three  or  four  different  stages  in 
arithmetic  or  composition.  If  there  are  only 
one  or  two  new  pupils  entering  in  the  fall,  they 
are  put  in  with  the  children  who  entered  the 
year  before,  the  teacher  giving  them  different 
work  and  extra  help  the  first  few  months.  But 
after  that  they  work  with  the  more  advanced 
portion  of  the  class,  except  that  they  are  not 
expected  to  accomplish  so  much  and  are  not 
held  to  such  high  standards  for  the  quality  of 
handwriting,  etc.  Most  of  the  classes,  there- 
fore, have  two  sections,  the  two  parts  doing  dif- 
ferent work  where  mere  drill  for  the  acquisi- 
tion of  skill  is  the  important  thing  and  working 
as  a  unit  where  they  are  acquiring  and  assimi- 
lating facts.  On  the  surface,  this  method  bears 
some  resemblance  to  alternation,  but  it  works 
none  of  the  hardships  of  that  method  on  the 
children.  For  at  Porter,  all  the  pupils  are  pro- 
gressing steadily,  no  group  ever  has  to  plunge 
unprepared  into  work  that  is  a  year  beyond 
them,  nor  yet  spend  a  year  doing  work  that  is 


PROGRAM  AND  ORGANIZATION    245 

easier  than  what  they  did  the  year  before.  In- 
stead of  making  a  fetich  of  an  unalterable  cur- 
riculum, Mrs.  Harvey  groups  together  children 
of  about  the  same  age  and  skill  and  gives  the 
work  that  she  thinks  they  ought  to  learn  in  or- 
der to  understand  the  things  around  them. 
Even  if  a  few  have  acquired  more  or  less  skill 
than  the  rest  in  the  mechanics  of  school  work, 
they  work  satisfactorily  as  a  unit  because  they 
are  at  the  same  stage  of  growth  and  intellectual 
development  They  think  in  the  same  way,  un- 
derstand the  same  things,  and  share  the  same 
experiences.  Drill  is  a  continuous  process 
throughout  their  school  career  and  it  makes  lit- 
tle difference  if  some  pupils  have  had  a  few 
months  more  or  less  than  others.  Forcing  chil- 
dren into  situations  that  are  beyond  them  or 
keeping  them  at  the  repetition  of  things  they 
have  gone  beyond  cannot  fail  to  deaden  intel- 
lectual interest  and  kill  initiative. 

Mrs.  Harvey's  second  method  results  in  time 
saving,  but  she  also  uses  it  because  it  seems  to 
her  to  be  the  only  way  to  give  her  pupils  a  real 
education.  She  does  not  have  reading,  writing, 
geography  and  history  as  separate  subjects. 
She  gives  work  that  has  content,  that  serves  an 
educational  end  she  has  in  mind,  and  in  doing 
this  work  the  pupil  gets  his  practice  in  reading, 


246         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

writing  and  arithmetic.  History,  gardening, 
poultry,  English,  all  require  a  great  deal  of 
reading,  writing  and  figuring,  and  when  atten- 
tion is  paid  to  the  form  in  which  work  is  done 
no  matter  what  "subject"  it  is  done  for,  prac- 
tice is  all  the  more  fruitful,  since  the  pupils  can 
understand  its  purpose.  Spelling  lessons  are 
taken  from  the  morning  talk;  writing  these 
words  to  learn  them  constitutes  a  writing  les- 
son; for  grammar  the  same  words  are  used  in 
sentences,  The  talk  is  usually  the  basis  for  the 
history  or  agriculture  lesson  as  well.  Any 
teacher  who  looks  at  her  room  of  children  in- 
stead of  the  state  curriculum  will  recognize  the 
infinite  possibilities  of  this  method.  And  in 
using  it  the  rural  teacher  is  freed  from  the 
strain  of  rushing  through  countless  recitations 
each  day,  which  becomes  a  race  to  see  how  fast 
the  pupils  can  recall  the  contents  of  a  few  pages 
in  a  text-book.  She  has  leisure  to  introduce  the 
work  she  feels  the  children  need,  leisure  to  keep 
older  children  in  school  after  the  eighth-grade 
work  is  finished,  and  leisure  to  conduct  lessons 
of  sufficient  length  to  teach  the  children  some- 
thing. 

The  daily  program  at  Porter  is  a  flexible 
thing.  There  is  a  schedule  which  is  used  as  an 
outline  for  the  curriculum,  but  it  is  not  a  hard 


PROGRAM  AND  ORGANIZATION    247 

and  fast  thing,  and  is  never  followed  at  the 
expense  of  an  opportunity,  however  unexpected, 
to  meet  the  needs  of  some  special  occasion  or 
to  tarn  some  happening  into  a  lesson.  As  Mrs. 
Harvey  watches  the  progress  of  the  pupils  she 
plans  the  next  step  in  their  development  and  de- 
cides upon  the  best  methods  to  promote  it.  She 
takes  into  account  the  proficiency  of  each  class 
in  the  mechanics  of  learning,  and  also  any  par- 
ticular group  of  facts  which  she  wishes  to  make 
familiar  to  the  children,  and,  when  it  is  con- 
venient to  do  so,  follows  her  schedule.  There 
are  certain  seasonal  interruptions  that  occur 
regularly.  In  the  winter  months,  for  instance, 
the  emphasis  is  put  upon  work  with  the  older 
classes  who  cannot  go  to  school  all  the  year.  In 
the  spring  and  fall  the  individuals  in  these 
classes  who  are  able  to  go  to  school  work  more 
or  less  independently,  with  casual  help  from 
the  teachers,  and  the  bulk  of  the  day  is  spent 
with  the  younger  classes.  In  the  spring  lessons 
are  curtailed  from  time  to  time  to  allow  the 
children  to  work  on  the  school  grounds.  Small 
beds  of  early-blooming  flowers  are  planted  along 
the  fences,  the  walks  are  trimmed,  weeded  and 
raked  and  the  yard  cleaned  and  weeded.  The 
shrubs  are  cared  for  and  a  few  new  things 
planted  each  year.  All  this  is  done  as  part  of 


248         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

the  school  work ;  all  the  pupils  share  in  the  plans 
and  learn  about  the  new  things  that  are  started, 
and  the  youngsters  have  spelling  and  writing 
lessons  from  the  words  that  are  used  in  the  talks 
about  the  gardening.  For  a  few  days  at  a  time 
this  work  may  cut  into  the  indoor  lessons  of  cer- 
tain groups  of  pupils.  Preparation  for  com- 
munity gatherings  where  the  school  takes  part 
in  the  program  is  made  part  of  the  school  day, 
and  is  simplified  and  organized  so  that  it  fur- 
nishes lessons  and  drill  of  all  sorts. 

The  daily  program  is  set  aside  to  give  the 
children  the  benefit  of  any  interesting  events 
that  occur.  "We  have  seen  how  pupils  who  are 
old  enough  to  profit  by  the  work  attend  the  ex- 
tension courses  that  the  university  sends  to 
Porter ;  in  the  same  way  Mrs.  Harvey  takes  time 
to  explain  any  agricultural  emergency  that 
arises  in  the  district  and  teaches  the  children  the 
best  way  to  meet  it.  Important  national  or  in- 
ternational happenings  are  noticed  and  inter- 
preted for  the  school.  The  school,  as  an  integral 
part  of  the  community,  does  its  share  of  extra 
work  and  sacrifice  to  help  in  winning  the  war. 
The  government  demands  for  thrift,  conserva- 
tion and  increased  production  all  find  their  place 
in  the  curriculum  as  soon  as  they  are  made. 

The  way  in  which  lessons  and  programs  are 


PROGRAM  AND  ORGANIZATION    249 

made  to  fit  into  the  occasion  is  illustrated  by  the 
use  that  was  made  of  the  visit  of  a  California 
gentleman  to  the  school.  After  he  left  he  wrote 
the  children  an  interesting  letter.  Mrs.  Harvey 
had  the  children  copy  this  letter  in  their  lan- 
guage note-books  as  an  example  of  good  English 
and  good  letter  writing.  Then  they  wrote  a 
joint  reply.  The  letter  was  written  in  this  way 
because  Mrs.  Harvey  felt  that  they  would  de- 
velop more  power  than  by  writing  the  letters  un- 
assisted. Their  lives  were  so  bare  and  so  devoid 
of  good  and  varied  English  at  this  time  that  to 
secure  results  it  was  necessary  to  give  a  great 
deal  before  expecting  anything.  The  reply  was 
also  put  into  the  note-books.  Later  this  gentle- 
man sent  the  children  a  box  of  oranges  from  Los 
Angeles.  The  oranges  were  divided  and  many 
observations  were  made  about  the  wrapping  and 
packing  of  the  fruit.  This  was  explained  and 
discussed  so  that  the  information  could  be  ap- 
plied to  the  care  of  fruit  in  the  district.  The 
letter  that  accompanied  the  box  was  again  put 
into  the  note-books.  This  time  each  child  from 
the  smallest  to  the  oldest  wrote  his  own  reply ; 
these  letters  are  interesting  examples  of  the 
progress  in  growth  and  power  of  the  school. 
The  ethical  significance  of  the  gift  was  brought 
out,  and  indirectly  the  children  learned  lessons 


250         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

in  gratitude  and  appreciation.  The  reading  les- 
sons of  the  primary  group  were  vitalized  for 
several  days  through  this  incident.  Four  or 
five  sentences  were  written  on  the  board  each 
day  about  the  gift.  These  were  collected  and 
typewritten  so  that  the  children  could  read  the 
printed  sentences  after  becoming  familiar  with 
the  script.  The  oranges  were  also  used  for  a 
geography  lesson  and  as  a  starting  point  for 
instruction  regarding  the  difference  in  crops  in 
different  localities  and  the  exchange  in  produce 
that  goes  on  between  them. 

The  general  program  of  teaching  the  children 
the  things  they  need  to  know  in  such  a  way  that 
they  are  constantly  growing  in  power  and  tech- 
nique is  never  lost  sight  of.  But  for  a  daily 
schedule  Mrs.  Harvey  follows  her  theory,  suit 
the  procedure  to  the  occasion.  Since  the  school 
is  made  a  vital  part  of  the  children's  lives,  the 
situation  varies  according  to  changing  condi- 
tions, instead  of  duplicating  itself  endlessly  be- 
cause it  follows  a  handful  of  text-books.  The 
mastery  of  the  tools  of  learning,  reading,  writ- 
ing and  arithmetic,  as  well  as  the  power  to 
study,  are  acquired  more  quickly  because  the 
drill  is  given  in  material  that  has  meaning  for 
the  children.  The  school  is  unusually  orderly 
and  systematic  and  the  continuous  thread  of  the 


PROGRAM  AND  ORZANIZATION     251 

animating  principle  is  obvious  to  the  most  cas- 
ual visitor.  The  boys  and  girls  who  have  left 
Porter  to  go  to  high  schools  have,  without  a 
single  exception,  made  high  records.  These  rec- 
ords have  been  possible  because  the  children 
show  real  power  to  think  and  to  meet  new  situ- 
ations, backed  by  facility  in  managing  the  me- 
chanics of  their  studies. 


CHAPTER  X 

AGRICULTURE  AND  THE   CURRICULUM 

MOST  states  are  now  recognizing  the  necessity 
for  making  some  effort  to  promote  agricultural 
stability  through  the  schools.  Since  the  exodus 
from  farms  begins  with  the  young  people,  legis- 
latures realize  that  influences  which  will  affect 
children  directly  may  result  in  checking  that  ex- 
odus. They  also  see  that  regions  where  farmers 
are  poor  and  farm  methods  backward  are  the 
most  seriously  depleted  by  cityward  migration. 
It  is  natural  then  to  think  that  equipping  the 
children  to  earn  more  money  on  the  farm  wiH 
tend  to  keep  them  there.  Therefore,  they  say 
country  schools  ought  to  teach  agriculture ;  and 
they  pass  laws  making  so  many  hours  of  study 
of  the  subject  obligatory  during  the  school  year. 
They  are  not  teachers  and  it  is  not  their  affair 
to  say  how  it  shall  be  taught ;  this  important  de- 
tail is  left  to  the  state  educational  administra- 
tors. They  in  turn  find  themselves  confronted 
with  the  duty  of  laying  out  a  course  of  study 
which  shall  fill  up  the  required  number  of  hours, 

252 


AGRICULTURE  AND  CURRICULUM    253 

adopting  text-books  for  the  pupils '  use  and  tell- 
ing every  teacher  what  lessons  they  shall  give, 
regardless  of  varying  agricultural  conditions  in 
the  state.  If  the  farmers  in  the  legislature  are 
skeptical  of  the  results  qf  this  method  of  at- 
tack, they  are  still  glad  to  have  any  attention 
paid  to  their  profession,  and  they  are  usually 
so  vague  as  to  a  better  way  of  dealing  with  the 
problem  that  they  gladly  give  their  support  to 
such  bills.  Every  country  teacher  knows  the 
futility  of  simply  going  through  the  required 
lessons  in  the  agricultural  text-book,  in  order  to 
make  better  farmers  or  keep  children  on  the 
farm.  The  prejudice  against  book  farming  that 
was  so  strong  in  Porter  before  Mrs.  Harvey 
showed  the  people  its  practical  applications  is 
very  general  in  farming  regions.  This  fact 
alone  discounts  most  of  the  knowledge  that 
pupils  might  gain  from  their  lessons.  Besides 
this,  the  same  text-book  is  used  for  a  whole 
state,  regardless  of  the  particular  conditions  of 
soil,  climate,  markets,  etc. ;  so  that  it  is  entirely 
a  matter  of  chance  if  the  information  has  any 
application  to  the  agricultural  needs  of  a  par- 
ticular district.  A  visitor  asked  the  teacher  in 
a  typical  one-room  school  if  she  taught  any  agri- 
culture or  gardening;  the  reply  was:  "No,  we 
are  not  able  to  manage  any  at  all.'*  Later  the 


254         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

teacher  returned  to  the  subject,  saying:  "Of 
course  we  use  the  lessons  in  agriculture  pre- 
scribed in  the  state  curriculum."  This  indi- 
cates the  value  the  teachers  themselves  attach 
to  this  type  of  agricultural  teaching  if  it  is  not 
vitalized  by  the  addition  of  practical  work 
adapted  to  local  conditions. 

Even  if  it  were  desirable  to  teach  grade  pupils 
trades,  farming  does  not  lend  itself  to  the  usual 
state  curriculum,  or  to  any  prescribed  methods. 
It  is  a  profession,  not  a  mechanical  trade  where 
practice  in  routine  acts  brings  skill,  and  one  set 
of  facts  illustrates  all  its  principles.  Young 
children  may  be  able  to  understand  these  gen- 
eral principles,  but  reciting  long  prescriptions 
for  soil  treatment  under  theoretical  conditions 
for  crops  they  have  never  seen,  has  no  bearing 
whatever  on  their  future  as  farmers,  and  hin- 
ders their  education  as  it  takes  time  which 
might  be  spent  in  worth-while  work. 

If  there  is  nothing  educational  in  abstract  les- 
sons in  agriculture,  engaging  in  agriculture  with 
an  open  mind  is  an  education  in  itself.  City  and 
country  teachers  alike  are  agreed  in  testifying 
to  the  value  of  real  work  in  gardens  to  children 
of  all  ages.  The  work  is  valuable  because 
through  it  the  children  learn  so  much  about  the 
commonest  things  about  them,  plants,  earth, 


AGRICUI/TURE  AND  CURRICULUM    255 

water  and  sunshine,  not  because  it  teaches  them 
processes  which  will  enable  them  to  earn  more 
money  when  they  grow  up.  The  teaching 
method  which  looks  to  the  environment  of  the 
child  to  furnish  most  of  the  class-room  material 
and  which  Mrs.  Harvey  believes  in  and  has  de- 
veloped with  great  skill  makes  the  teaching  of 
agriculture  in  her  school  a  necessity.  When 
children  learn  to  understand  the  things  around 
them  and  learn  the  possibilities  and  relation- 
ships of  the  local  environment,  there  is  no  dan- 
ger of  training  mere  technicians,  who  are  ca- 
pable only  of  mechanical  work,  nor  yet  of  de- 
veloping abstract  theorists,  whose  contact  with 
life  is  confined  to  books  and  ideas. 

Using  the  world  for  a  text-book  insures  the 
children's  being  fitted  to  live  in  that  world  effi- 
ciently. Since  the  modern  world  even  in  a  sim- 
ple farming  district  is  much  too  complicated 
to  give  one  person  a  grasp  of  all  its  phases, 
the  important  thing  in  education  is  to 
give  every  person  a  good  working  point 
of  view  towards  life.  Mrs.  Harvey  believes 
that  there  are  two  essential  sides  to  this 
point  of  view,  and  that  it  is  equally  im- 
portant that  pupils  acquire  them  both  in  their 
school  life.  The  first  is  sufficient  practical 
knowledge  of  the  industrial  and  economic  life 


256         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOE  OLD 

about  them  from  the  side  of  its  underlying  prin- 
ciples to  insure  their  being  able  as  adults  to  con- 
trol their  material  environment,  not  to  be  at  its 
mercy.  This  work  should  always  be  taught  with 
scientific  principles  and  social  relationships  in 
mind;  because  it  is  no  part  of  the  duty  of  the 
public  schools  of  a  democracy  to  give  trade 
training.  It  is  their  duty  to  teach  so  that  every- 
one can  approach  a  trade  with  general  skill  and 
critical  faculties  developed  so  that  he  can  learn 
the  trade  as  a  whole,  not  simply  one  process  of 
it.  This  involves  for  a  school  in  an  agricultural 
community,  not  only  theory  and  practice  in  gar- 
dening and  farming,  but  general  book  work 
which  will  enable  the  pupil  to  understand  the 
business  aspects  of  farming,  its  place  in  nat- 
tional  life,  markets,  buying  and  selling;  the  re- 
lations of  the  farmer  to  the  rest  of  the  world. 

The  other  side  to  this  point  of  view  is  the 
understanding  of  the  rest  of  the  things  in  life, 
which  is  just  as  important  in  a  democracy  as  the 
ability  to  earn  a  living.  Every  child  should 
have  a  chance  to  learn  how  to  think  for  himself ; 
how  to  understand  national  and  social  aims,  how 
to  appreciate  beauty  and  wholesome  pleasure, 
how  to  be  healthy,  self-reliant  and  courageous, 
and  how  to  find  out  things  for  himself.  Keal 
work  presented  in  the  right  way  promotes  both 


AGRICULTURE  AND  CURRICULUM    257 

these  phases  of  efficient  social  equipment.  It  no 
longer  becomes  necessary  to  argue  the  advan- 
tages of  vocational  versus  cultural  teaching ;  the 
teacher  can  devote  her  entire  time  to  giving  her 
pupils  an  education.  No  demonstration  is 
necessary  to  prove  the  place  of  agriculture  in 
the  curriculum  of  a  school  which  sets  out  to  edu- 
cate farm  children.  It  belongs  there  just  as 
much  as  an  adjustment  of  the  program  to  the 
climate,  or  of  the  seating  capacity  to  the  number 
of  pupils. 

The  results  of  a  curriculum  made  up  and 
starting  from  the  child's  environment  are  sure 
to  be  both  vocational  and  cultural.  The  differ- 
ence between  teaching  a  trade  in  school  and 
using  the  prevailing  industrial  conditions  for 
education,  can  be  demonstrated  by  a  descrip- 
tion of  Mrs.  Harvey's  methods  of  using  agri- 
culture in  the  curriculum  of  Porter,  better  than 
by  a  more  theoretical  discussion.  We  have  seen 
how  she  has  effectively  advanced  the  economic 
prosperity  of  the  district  by  helping  the  adults 
to  apply  scientific  methods,  and  showing  them 
how  to  get  scientific  knowledge,  on  every  matter 
that  touches  their  working  lives.  From  the  very 
first  she  saw  that  the  children  could  be  brought 
up  to  adopt  the  best  farm  methods  as  a  matter 
of  course,  if  their  intelligence  could  be  enlisted 


258         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

at  the  outset.  She  selected  the  vegetable  and 
flower  gardens  as  the  best  point  of  attack  for 
the  school.  Owing  to  conditions  in  the  corn 
belt  little  attention  has  been  paid  to  the  gar- 
den on  the  individual  farms.  The  farmer,  busy 
with  the  planting,  cultivation  and  harvesting  of 
the  larger  crops  had  come  to  feel  that  he  could 
spare  no  time  for  the  garden.  The  work  of  gar- 
dening fell  to  the  lot  of  the  already  overworked 
women.  Usually,  therefore,  the  plot  culti- 
vated was  small  and  the  vegetables  were  few 
and  insufficient  in  variety  and  quantity.  By 
enlisting  the  children  in  garden  work  several 
purposes  were  served.  The  garden  serves  as 
a  laboratory  for  teaching  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  agriculture.  The  children  find  a 
healthy  summer  occupation,  and  those  who  are 
too  young  for  the  heavier  farm  work  are  un- 
consciously acquiring  knowledge  and  skill  which 
is  certain  to  make  farm  life  attractive  and  sat- 
isfying to  them  eventually  while  it  gives  them  an 
immediate  consciousness  of  and  pride  in  adding 
to  the  family  comfort  and  in  saving  "mother's" 
strength. 

School  gardening  can  be  made  a  valuable  ad- 
junct to  country  schools  in  the  corn  belt  because 
of  its  educative  value  to  the  child  and  its  effect 
upon  the  community  as  well.  In  truck  growing 


AGRICULTURE  AND  CURRICULUM    259 

regions  some  other  form  of  agricultural  work 
should  be  employed  because  children  are 
pressed  into  service  at  home  so  young  that  gar- 
dens lose  their  educational  value.  In  using  the 
environment,  emphasis  must  always  be  put  upon 
the  principles  involved  and  immediate  things 
should  be  used  as  stepping  stones  to  more  re- 
mote things.  The  gardening  work  was  in  no 
sense  supposed  to  react  immediately  upon  fam- 
ily incomes  by  producing  vegetables  that  could 
be  sold;  but  was  expected  to  react  indirectly 
through  the  added  understanding  of  agricul- 
tural principles  and  through  a  raised  standard 
of  living.  Through  the  school  garden  the  child 
at  an  age  when  he  is  forming  tastes  and  habits 
for  life  can  learn  all  the  fundamentals  of  fann- 
ing in  which  he  is  expected  to  take  an  interest 
later  on. 

Every  community  has  its  own  conditions  and 
needs,  and  these  should  determine  the  kind  of 
garden  work  undertaken.  In  Porter,  as  in  so 
many  other  country  communities  at  that  time, 
an  exclusive  bread  and  meat  diet  made  up  the 
menues,  especially  in  the  very  hot  and  cold  sea- 
sons of  the  year.  After  the  early  spring  vege- 
tables were  gone  there  was  a  scarcity  of  green 
things,  resulting  in  a  limited  diet,  that  affected 
the  health  of  the  people.  By  careful  planning 


260         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

and  without  too  much  work  a  family  garden  can 
be  kept  up  that  will  not  only  supply  a  surplus 
of  fruits  and  vegetables  for  canning,  but  will 
provide  a  variety  of  fresh  vegetables  for  the 
table  nearly  all  the  year  around.  This  was  the 
practical  situation  that  Mrs.  Harvey  set  out  to 
bring  about  by  her  school  gardens. 

The  garden  at  Porter  was  planted  at  the 
teacher's  cottage  because  a  garden  in  the  school 
yard  would  have  interfered  with  play  before 
school  closed  and  would  have  worked  an  un- 
necessary hardship  on  the  teacher,  after  it 
closed,  as  the  school  and  cottage  are  three-quar- 
ters of  a  mile  apart.  In  order  to  make  the  best 
demonstration  the  garden  must  be  under  the  di- 
rect supervision  of  the  teacher  all  the  time  so 
that  the  children  may  get  the  benefit  of  her  ob- 
servations. The  Porter  garden  is  fairly  large 
and  is  laid  out  to  demonstrate  the  best  type  of 
family  garden.  The  rows  are  long  enough  to 
permit  horse  cultivation,  the  vegetables  are  ar- 
ranged to  allow  for  rotation  of  crops,  the  peren- 
nials are  planted  so  as  not  to  interfere  with 
ploughing.  Only  one  set  of  tools  was  available ; 
the  gardeners  had  to  rely  on  those  they  could 
borrow  or  bring  with  them.  The  ground  was 
broken  in  April  of  the  first  year  by  one  of  the 
seventeen-year-old  boys.  But  all  the  rest  of  the 


work  was  done  by  the  teachers  and  the  children 
under  thirteen  years  of  age,  since  none  of  the 
older  children  could  be  spared  from  work  at 
home.  The  first  planting  lesson  was  the  setting 
out  of  a  small  strawberry  bed.  The  plants  were 
a  present  from  Miss  Crecelius.  Three  varieties 
of  berries  were  planted,  two  with  perfect  blos- 
soms and  one  pistillate  variety,  giving  an  op- 
portunity for  lessons  in  pollination.  The  first 
year  the  bed  was  nearly  ruined  by  drought  and 
moles,  but  its  care  was  continued  and  the  second 
season  there  was  such  a  good  crop  that  the  chil- 
dren got  a  splendid  lesson  in  perseverance  in 
the  face  of  obstacles. 

When  the  bed  was  two  years  old  the  children 
were  taught  the  importance  of  setting  out  a 
new  bed  to  take  the  place  of  the  old,  which 
would  soon  yield  too  small  a  crop.  A  group  of 
girls  were  called  in  to  do  the  transplanting  of 
choice  plants  from  the  old  bed  to  the  new.  They 
learned  to  distinguish  young  plants  from  old 
ones  by  observing  the  root  system ;  how  to  pre- 
vent too  rapid  evaporation  by  cutting  off  most 
of  the  leaf  growth ;  and  that  the  new  bed  should 
not  adjoin  the  old  because  of  the  transfer  of  in- 
sect enemies.  At  the  close  of  the  lesson  some 
plants  were  taken  home  by  the  girls  for  their 
own  gardens.  The  lesson  was  completed  the 


262         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

following  spring  when  the  children  took  home 
a  quart  or  half  gallon  of  fine  large  berries  apiece 
for  a  sample  of  the  new  bed  after  visits  to  the 
school  garden.  Many  of  the  berries  weighed 
two  ounces  each.  The  old  bed  was  retained  to 
show  difference  in  size  and  quantity  of  fruit. 
It  proved  a  convincing  demonstration  to  the  en- 
tire community.  Strawberry  beds  are  common 
in  Porter  now.  • 

The  work  was  carried  through  the  summer  on 
the  basis  of  the  arrangement  made  between  par- 
ents and  teacher  before  school  closed.  Small 
groups  of  children  were  called  from  time  to  time 
by  telephone  and  came  to  the  teacher's  cottage 
for  a  morning  or  afternoon's  work  in  the  gar- 
den. Mrs.  Harvey  or  Miss  Crecelius  always 
worked  with  the  children,  and  the  lessons  were 
given  while  the  actual  work  was  being  done. 
The  children  were  required  to  keep  a  journal  of 
their  work.  They  frequently  took  home  sam- 
ples of  new  vegetables  which  were  always  ac- 
companied with  verbal  instructions  on  the  best 
ways  of  cooking  them.  No  artificial  stimulus 
was  needed  to  spur  the  children  to  the  work. 
This  method  has  been  followed  every  year 
since,  and  the  children  are  still  interested 
workers,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  nearly 
everyone  of  them  is  responsible  for  the  en- 


AGRICULTURE  AND  CURRICULUM    263 

tire  care  of  a  sizeable  garden  at  home.  Usually 
after  the  work  in  the  garden  is  over 
some  time  is  spent  in  discussion  of  the  lessons 
learned  or  in  work  with  a  microscope.  At  first 
this  was  confined  to  simple  demonstrations  that 
would  rouse  the  interest  of  the  children  and 
open  their  eyes  to  the  wonders  of  nature ;  such 
as  the  ingenious  arrangement  of  seeds  in  a  pod 
and  the  perfect  adaptation  of  a  flower  to  its 
method  of  fertilization.  As  the  children  have 
acquired  more  knowledge  the  lessons  have  be- 
come more  formal  and  the  work  is  made  into  a 
practical  botany  course. 

A  small  garden  about  a  rod  square  very  near 
the  kitchen  door  served  as  a  demonstration  of 
a  labor-saving  device ;  the  housekeeper  had  only 
a  few  steps  to  go  to  get  the  vegetables  that  were 
most  often  used.  This  bed  was  planted  with 
radishes,  lettuce,  early  peas,  summer  onions, 
beets,  spinach  and  Swiss  chard,  and  had  a  pretty 
border  of  parsley  and  four  o 'clocks.  In  the 
larger  garden  the  things  that  required  more 
space  were  grown.  On  one  side  of  the  plot  were 
small  fruits  such  as  strawberries,  raspberries, 
blackberries  and  currants.  The  rest  of  the  gar- 
den was  planted  to  facilitate  the  rotation  of 
crops  so  that  families  of  plants  would  not  oc- 
cupy the  same  ground  that  they  had  the  year 


264         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOE  OLD 

before.  Everything  that  was  done  was  care- 
fully worked  out  to  furnish  a  demonstration  of 
the  best  way  to  manage  a  garden ;  and  was  made 
a  real  lesson  for  the  children  by  letting  them 
share  in  the  plans  and  explaining  the  reasons 
for  doing  everything  in  that  particular  way. 

During  the  first  three  years  of  the  garden  the 
children  handled  many  varieties  of  vegetables ; 
learning  the  reasons  for  being  particular  about 
the  quality  of  seeds,  the  methods  of  planting 
and  caring  for  each  thing,  the  variety  adapted 
to  the  climate,  when  it  matured ;  how  it  could  be 
used  on  the  table  at  the  time  and  what  use  could 
be  made  of  it  in  preparing  for  winter.  They 
also  learned  about  soil  preparation,  fertiliza- 
tion, hot-beds,  transplanting,  soil-depletion,  pol- 
lination, cross-fertilization,  reversion  and  the 
general  principles  of  plant  structure  and  life. 
A  little  girl  six  years  old  astonished  the  teach- 
ers by  her  interest  in  the  onions  she  had  planted 
in  the  school  garden.  "With  unflagging  patience 
she  set  out  her  row;  and  she  measured  it  and 
found  it  was  sixty  feet  long.  It  was  a  real 
achievement  in  language  as  well  when  she  re- 
ported in  school:  "I  set  out  a  sixty-foot  row  of 
onions  to-day."  Her  perseverance  was  stimu- 
lated by  such  questions  as,  * '  Now  that  you  have 
planted  is  your  work  finished?"  "Who  will  do 


AGRICULTURE  AND  CURRICULUM    265 

the  weeding  and  hoeing  T "  She  kept  at  her  job, 
showing  the  keenest  interest  in  the  progress  of 
her  onions  and  walking  nearly  a  mile  in  the  sum- 
mer heat  as  often  as  necessary  to  care  for  the 
row.  She  did  every  bit  of  the  work  herself  and 
harvested  a  fine  crop  of  onions  in  the  fall. 

The  influence  of  the  garden  on  the  district  is 
shown  in  the  home  gardens  to-day.  The  in- 
crease in  variety  and  quantity  of  vegetables  in 
them  made  the  work  of  the  Movable  School  of 
Home  Economics  possible.  The  material 
needed  for  a  demonstration  was  at  hand  and  the 
women  were  anxious  to  learn  how  to  use  the 
unknown  and  untried  plants  on  their  tables. 
Government  bulletins  which  had  been  tucked 
away  unread  before  acquired  interest  and  use. 
They  learned  new  ways  of  cooking  and  serving 
vegetables;  how  to  have  green  salad  the  year 
round,  and  most  important  of  all  in  view  of  the 
impending  war,  how  to  can  for  winter  use  by 
the  cold  pack  method. 

The  flower  garden  at  the  teacher's  cottage  has 
been  used  both  to  furnish  lessons  for  the 
children  and  as  demonstration  for  the  commun- 
ity. The  cottage  yard  happened  to  be  in  a  most 
unsightly  condition  when  Mrs.  Harvey  first 
moved  there.  Cleaning  this  up,  weeding  and 
planting  flowers  and  vines  where  they  would 


266         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

beautify  and  furnish  shade  has  been  the  work 
of  the  children.  Changing  the  unsightly  yard, 
laden  with  debris,  into  a  pretty,  home-like  place 
has  had  an  influence  on  many  of  the  farm  yards. 
The  uses  of  vines  and  flowers  for  furnishing 
shade  and  refreshing  beauty  through  the  kill- 
ing heat  of  the  prairie  summer  were  unknown. 
In  many  instances  the  routine  of  farm  work  left 
no  leisure  for  the  enjoyment  of  attractive  home 
surroundings,  therefore  vines  and  flowers  were 
selected  that  would  yield  a  maximum  of  com- 
fort and  beauty  with  a  minimum  of  work. 
Learning  these  things  and  establishing  hab- 
its of  caring  for  the  appearance  of  the  home, 
will  do  a  lot  towards  anchoring  families  to  a 
locality,  making  them  look  at  their  farm  as  a 
real  home,  which  it  is  their  duty  and  pleasure 
to  care  for  and  hand  down  to  their  children  in 
better  condition  than  when  they  received  it. 
The  following  list  of  plants  have  become  famil- 
iar to  the  children  through  the  practical  work 
in  these  school  and  home  gardens  and  through 
study  in  the  class  room,  which  included  pro- 
nouncing and  writing  names : 

Bush  beans,  lima  beans,  beets,  Brussel's 
sprouts,  cabbage,  cauliflower,  carrots,  celery, 
chives,  cress,  cucumbers,  Swiss  chard,  sweet 
corn,  endive,  egg  plant,  kohlrabi,  leek,  lettuce, 


AT  WORK  IN  THE  SCHOOL  GARDEN,  STARTING  A  STRAWBERRY 
BED, 


AGRICULTURE  AND  CURRICULUM    267 

musk  melon,  mustard,  onions,  okra,  parsnips, 
parsley,  peanut,  peppers,  peas,  potatoes,  horse- 
radish, rhubarb,  radish,  spinach,  salsify,  squash, 
tomatoes,  turnips,  watermelon. 

Sweet  alyssum,  balsam,  day  lily,  canna,  car- 
nation, coxcomb,  chrysanthemum,  dahlia,  four 
o'clock,  geranium,  gladiolus,  hollyhock,  migno- 
nette, nasturtium,  petunia,  portulaca,  roses,  sal- 
via,  snap  dragon,  sunflower,  sweet  William, 
sweet  peas,  verbena,  violets,  zinnias. 

Balloon  vine,  bittersweet,  clematis  panicu- 
lata,  cypress,  gourds,  grape,  wild  grape,  hop, 
honeysuckle,  moon  vine,  morning  glory,  myr- 
tle, madeira,  climbing  roses  or  ramblers,  trum- 
pet vine,  wild  cucumber,  Virginia  creeper,  wis- 
taria. 

Althea,  buck-berry,  lilac,  mock  orange,  hardy 
hydrangea,  golden  elder,  yellow  bell,  weigelia, 
spirea,  flowering  currant,  diervalla  Florida. 

Blackberries,  currants,  strawberries,  raspber- 
ries, red  and  black,  grapes,  apples,  crab  apples, 
cherries,  peaches,  pears. 

The  work  of  the  Poultry  Club  has  been  one 
of  the  most  popular  developments  of  the  new 
Porter  school.  This  club  rouses  as  much  en- 
thusiasm among  young  and  old  of  the  district 
as  the  community  band.  There  are  now  thirty- 
seven  members,  from  the  ages  of  six  to  nine* 


268         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOB  OLD 

teen.  The  work  was  started  with  the  younger 
children,  but  they  were  so  successful  that  the 
older  pupils  were  eager  to  join,  and  in  many 
families  they  bought  half  shares  in  the  business 
of  a  small  brother  or  sister.  The  Porter 
chicken  yards  were  designed  to  furnish  only  the 
family  and  as  a  result  there  were  no  efforts 
made  to  raise  and  care  for  chickens  in  a 
scientific  way.  Even  for  family  use  the  invest- 
ment was  high  for  the  returns.  The  state  agri- 
cultural college  was  trying  to  stimulate  the 
poultry  industry  throughout  the  state,  since 
conditions  were  particularly  favorable  to  it. 
Mrs.  Harvey  knew  that  with  their  cooperation 
the  children  could  lay  the  foundations  of  a 
prosperous  business  for  the  district  while  they 
were  having  educational  experiences  that 
would  open  their  eyes  to  the  possibilities  of 
farming  as  a  profession.  The  work  is  easy  and 
light,  and  medium-sized  flocks  can  be  carried  as 
a  profitable  side  line  on  any  grain-growing 
farm  without  involving  any  changes  in  crops  or 
labor  arrangements. 

In  1915  a  few  children  started  chicken  raising 
with  a  borrowed  hen  and  one  setting  of  eggs. 
Each  child  kept  a  record  of  his  work  and  ac- 
counts, this  was  done  as  part  of  the  school 
work;  and  they  also  told  the  school  of  their 


AGRICULTURE  AND  CURRICULUM    269 

progress  and  their  success  and  failures.  In 
this  way  children  who  had  not  joined  the  club 
heard  about  its  work  and  became  interested  in 
chicken  raising.  Many  new  children  were  stim- 
ulated to  undertake  the  work  the  second  spring. 
A  little  girl  eight  years  old  who  had  pure-bred 
chickens  did  the  best  work.  This  and  the  les- 
sons that  were  given  the  whole  school  from 
the  work  of  the  poultry  raisers  created  a  strong 
sentiment  for  pure-bred  chickens.  The  second 
spring  a  good-sized  group  of  children  were 
ready  to  start  the  scientific  raising  of  pure 
birds.  In  February,  the  poultry  expert  of  the 
state  college  came  to  Porter  and  held  a  poultry 
school  for  the  children,  in  the  school  building. 
He  was  a  splendid  teacher  of  practical  methods 
and  his  lessons  furnished  the  final  stimulus  to 
enlist  the  children  in  the  work  as  a  serious  un- 
dertaking. The  members  of  the  club  kept  note- 
books, carefully  noting  instructions  in  such 
form  that  they  could  follow  them  exactly  with 
their  settings.  Lessons  went  on  after  he  left, 
and  it  was  not  long  before  other  children  were 
borrowing  the  note-books,  to  copy  instructions 
for  their  own  use  or  for  an  older  brother  who 
wished  to  join  the  club  but  could  not  go  to 
school.  The  State  Poultry  Experiment  Station 
furnished  each  child  with  one  setting  of  pure 


270         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

eggs,  free,  as  a  part  of  their  campaign  to  pro- 
mote the  poultry  industry  in  the  state. 

The  club  members  followed  all  instructions 
in  the  minutest  detail.  At  first  parents  were  in- 
clined to  be  amused  at  the  fuss  the  children 
were  making,  but  when  they  saw  the  results 
the  children  obtained,  their  amusement  changed 
to  a  surprised  appreciation  of  the  value  of 
raising  chickens  by  the  book.  Several  chil- 
dren built  chicken  houses  according  to  the  plan 
approved  by  the  college ;  they  all  made  feeding 
hoppers,  which  had  not  been  used  in  the  district 
before.  Each  child  paid  all  the  expenses  of 
feed  and  equipment,  kept  accounts  in  his  note- 
book, and  was  able  to  tell  at  the  end  of  the  sum- 
mer just  how  much  profit  in  dollars  and  cents 
his  first  venture  had  yielded.  A  daily  record 
was  kept  when  the  hens  began  to  lay,  and  the 
eggs  were  charged  to  profit  at  the  current  mar- 
ket prices.  Interest  in  the  flocks  was  so  intense 
that  each  member  reported  the  number  of 
eggs  received  every  day.  The  children  sold 
their  cockerels  in  the  fall,  keeping  the  best  ones 
to  insure  good  settings  for  the  next  year. 

In  December  when  the  Movable  School  of 
Agriculture  came  to  Porter  the  children  held  a 
poultry  show  in  the  basement  of  the  school 
house.  Each  child  made  an  exhibition  coop,  f  ol- 


AGRICULTURE  AND  CURRICULUM    271 

lowing  plans  furnished  by  the  college,  and  pre- 
pared their  birds  for  exhibition  as  carefully  as 
if  they  had  been  competing  at  the  state  fair. 
Ninety-five  pure-bred  chickens  were  exhibited. 
These  were  studied  and  judged,  and  honorable 
mention  given  to  the  pupils  who  had  been  most 
successful  in  handling  their  flocks.  But  no 
prizes  were  offered  or  asked  for.  This  exhibit 
proved  conclusively  that  the  children  had  suc- 
ceeded at  poultry  husbandry;  and  every  one 
knew  that  this  success  included  not  only  raising 
good  birds,  but  doing  it  on  a  sound  financial 
basis.  Parents  were  now  willing  that  their  chil- 
dren should  branch  out  on  a  larger  scale,  and 
cooperated  by  allowing  them  more  freedom. 
Larger  flocks  were  planned  for  the  next  year, 
and  eggs  were  saved  for  settings.  New  mem- 
bers came  into  the  club,  and  parents  bought  half 
shares  in  their  children's  flocks,  getting  rid  of 
their  own  mixed  chickens.  Settings  from  the 
pure  flocks  were  very  precious,  as  every  one 
wanted  to  enlarge  as  much  as  possible.  The  club 
agreed  that  in  order  to  develop  the  industry, 
each  member  would  sell  settings  only  in  the  dis- 
trict and  that  they  should  charge  a  uniform  price 
of  fifty  cents  a  setting.  Every  one  was  glad  to 
give  up  chances  of  larger  profit  in  the  interest 
of  establishing  the  industry.  The  work  contin- 


272         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOB  OLD 

Tied  so  successful  that  by  the  third  year  pnre 
flocks  were  established,  and  the  entire  commun- 
ity recognized  the  new  industry  as  a  valuable 
asset,  which  they  were  glad  to  cooperate  with. 
After  experimenting  with  several  varieties, 
the  community  has  settled  down  to  two  breeds, 
White  Leghorns  where  egg  production  is  de- 
sired, and  Rhode  Island  Reds  where  owners 
want  a  general  purpose  flock.  The  work  is  en- 
tirely a  side  line  to  the  main  business  of  the 
farms,  the  added  work  being  carried  on  by  the 
children,  and  the  burden  of  this  diminishing 
as  parents  get  rid  of  their  mixed  flocks  and  go 
in  with  the  children.  No  one  flock  is  large 
enough  to  be  able  to  command  an  exclusive  mar- 
ket. Each  club  member  now  sells  his  eggs  and 
birds  where  he  can  in  Kirksville.  But  from 
time  to  time  orders  have  been  received  that  have 
been  filled  by  pooling  the  products  of  several 
flocks.  The  club  is  working  towards  the  estab- 
lishment of  an  egg  circle.  When  each  hen  yard 
has  passed  beyond  the  experimental  stage  the 
community  plans  to  cooperate  on  marketing  the 
eggs  under  a  guaranteed  trade  mark.  This  will 
enable  them  to  undertake  the  regular  supplying 
of  some  large  market.  They  will  be  able  to  ship 
far  enough  to  command  a  larger  price  than  they 
can  get  in  the  local  market,  and  even  the  small- 


I 

AGRICULTURE  AND  CURRICULUM    273 

est  owners  will  get  the  benefit  of  high  prices 
and  cooperative  shipping  and  packing. 

No. 

Distrib-    No.      No.  No.  Infer-    Date 

Name  Breed  uted    R'c'd  Hatched  Broken  tile  Hatched 

Walter  Jones,  R.  I.  Reds  (S) 

Apr.    0      13  S  08       May  1 

Rita  Law  son,  R.  I.  Reds  (S) 

Apr.    6      16  7  09       May  1 

Ella  McDowell.  R.  I.  Reds  (S) 

Apr.  10      IS          13  02 

Hi  Id  red  Webster,  R.  I.  Reds  (S) 

Apr.    0      10  8  17       May  0 

Lorena  Lander,  R.  I.  Reds  (S) 

Apr.    6      15  0  25        

Skunk   ate   rest.     He   was   trapped   later. 

Emory  Crow,  R.  I.  Reds  (S) 

Apr.    0      14  11  03        Apr.  29 

Ruby  Darr,  R.  I.  Reds  (S) 

Apr.    0      U  8  25        Apr.  29 

Mary  Novinger.  R.  I.  Reds  (S) 

Apr.    0      14  10  13        May  4 

Beulah  Beltzer,  R.  I.  Reds  (S) 

Apr.    0      15  3  2         10       May  1 

Glen  Beltzer.  R.  I.  Reds  (S) 

Apr.    0      14  1  58       May  3 

Ruth  Policy,  R.  I.  Reds  (S) 

Apr.    0      15  13  11        Apr.  30 

Alra  Crow,  R.  I.  Reds  (S) 

Apr.    0      10  5  2          t       Apr.  30 

Cleo  Moore,  R.  I.  Reds  (S) 

Apr.    0      ..  5  ..         

Nellie  Pinkerton,  W.  Leghorns 

Apr.    0      10  11  05       Apr.  29 

Lucille  Webster,  W.  Leghorns 

Apr.    0      18  11  25        May  7 

Elizabeth  Garth,  W.  Leghorns 

Apr.    0      10  14  11        May  2 

Julia  Garth,  W.  Leghorns 

Apr.    0      10  11  23       Apr.  30 

John  Connor,  W.  Leghorns 

Apr.    0      16  10  00        May  2 

Jennings  Connor,  W.  Leghorns 

Apr.    0      16  14  11        May  1 

Emmett  Policy,  W.  Leghorns 

Apr.    6      18  11  16       Apr.  29 

Glen  Adams.  Buff  Rocks 

Apr.    0      18  0  6         17        Apr.  30 

Elnora  Adams,  Buff  Rocks 

Apr.  10      15  1  2        12       May  10 

Leona  Adams,  Buff  Rocks 

Apr.  10      15  1  3         11        May  10 

Edith  Conner,  Barred  Rocks 

Apr.    0      18  »  

Raymond  Harbor,  Barred  Rocks 

Apr.    0      18  U  

Mary  Linder,  B.  Orpingtons 

Apr.    0     17  9  17       May  1 

Eunice  Jones,  R.  I.  Reds  (S) 

Apr.  10      17  7  •        10       May  * 


274         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

The  reproduction  shows  the  report  of  the  re- 
sults from  the  pure  settings  received  by  the 
members  of  the  club  from  the  experiment  sta- 
tion. Each  member  of  the  club  made  a  similar 
report;  this  is  the  work  of  an  eleven-year-old 
girl.  The  record  furnished  an  exercise  in  ac- 
curacy and  the  simple  arrangement  of  statis- 
tical material.  It  also  furnished  the  basis  for 
making  comparison  in  hatches;  comparisons 
which  led  to  explanations  as  to  the  reasons,  and 
the  care  the  hen  and  eggs  received.  Besides  the 
lessons  in  agriculture  that  are  drawn  from  the 
work  of  the  poultry  club  there  are  lessons  in 
reading,  letter- writing,  spelling,  penmanship, 
courtesy,  and  sound  business  methods.  The 
following  letter  was  written  by  a  ten-year-old 
girl  to  thank  an  experiment  station  for  a  pres- 
ent of  eggs  they  had  sent  the  club : 

"I  wish  to  express  my  thanks  for  the  Rhode 
Island  Red  eggs  you  sent  us.  We  received  the 
eggs  day  before  yesterday.  We  distributed 
them  and  we  thought  they  were  fine-shaped 
eggs. 

"I  haven't  set  my  eggs  yet,  but  am  going  to 
do  so  to-night. 

"The  last  two  years  I  have  had  white  Leg- 
horns, but  this  year  I  am  going  to  have  Rhode 
Island  Reds.  The  reason  is  because  mother  has 


A  PROMISING  YOUNG  MEMBER  OF  THE  POULTRY  CLUB 


AGRICULTURE  AND  CURRICULUM    275 

white  Leghorns  and  I  wanted  a  kind  different 
from  hers,  as  ours  would  get  mixed  up  and  we 
couldn't  tell  them  apart.  We  also  want  a  gen- 
eral-purpose type  on  our  farm. 

"Last  year  I  received  a  sitting  of  white  Leg- 
horn eggs  from  Mountain  Grove.  I  hatched 
ten  and  raised  nine  and  they  were  all  cockerels. 

"I  have  one  hen  sitting  and  they  will  hatch 
Sunday.  I  also  have  seven  little  chickens  three 
weeks  old. 

"Thanking  you  again  very  much  for  the  eggs, 
"Sincerely," 

Besides  the  benefits  the  children  have  gained 
from  their  poultry  work,  the  effect  on  the  hen 
yards  of  the  district  is  very  marked.  The  en- 
tire community  has  become  interested  in  poul- 
try raising  as  a  productive  industry,  for  they 
now  have  the  scientific  knowledge  necessary  to 
make  a  success  of  the  business.  Better 
chicken  houses  are  being  built  on  the  farms ;  one 
man  has  just  built  a  model  house  costing  six 
hundred  dollars.  The  children  are  keeping  rec- 
ords of  the  home  experiments  and  are  able  to 
show  their  parents  from  the  actual  accounts 
that  the  flocks  have  already  become  profitable 
side  lines.  One  farm  where  the  records  are  par- 
ticularly well  kept  publishes  their  monthly 
statements,  thus  furnishing  a  stimulus  to  fur- 


276         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

ther  efforts  on  other  farms.  The  children  still 
have  their  own  flocks,  however,  and  continue  to 
do  as  well  with  them  as  their  parents.  Two 
little  girls  with  a  flock  of  fifteen  Rhode  Island 
Red  hens  are  paying  installments  on  a  piano 
they  have  bought  with  the  profits  from  these 
hens.  Another  girl  has  bought  thirty  war  sav- 
ings stamps  this  winter  and  plans  to  buy  ten 
more  with  her  profits.  One  boy  has  bred  his 
flock  so  carefully  that  it  has  been  judged  to  be 
the  best  Rhode  Island  Red  flock  in  the  county. 
The  work  of  the  demonstration  farm  does  not 
play  so  large  a  part  in  the  lessons  of  the  school 
as  the  garden  and  the  poultry  club,  but  the 
older  class  follow  the  experiments,  and  attend 
demonstrations  of  the  work.  As  far  as  possible 
the  pupils  share  in  the  work  and  lessons  of  the 
farm  just  as  the  whole  community  does;  and 
whenever  an  opportunity  offers,  a  lesson  or 
series  of  lessons  will  be  taken  from  the  work 
on  the  farm.  For  example,  one  year  the  whole 
school  shared  in  a  study  of  the  planning  and 
ground  arrangement  of  the  farm.  All  the 
pupils  that  were  able  made  maps  to  a  scale  of 
the  plots  and  the  arrangement  of  the  crops  in 
them.  Lessons  of  this  sort  occur  often,  and  the 
reports  of  the  farm  manager,  himself  one  of  the 
yoiiii^  men,  are  used  in  the  note-book  work  with 


AGRICULTURE  AND  CURRICULUM    277 

the  older  group.  The  appended  condensed  re- 
port of  this  farmer 's  work  through  one  season, 
illustrates  the  value  of  the  farm  to  the  commun- 
ity and  the  many-sided  lessons  in  scientific  agri- 
culture it  furnishes,  especially  to  the  older 
group  in  school,  who  have  time  and  opportun- 
ity to  keep  the  records,  and  check  up  in  a  busi- 
ness way  all  the  work  that  is  done.  The  plan 
for  the  work  of  which  this  is  a  report  was  made 
in  consultation  with  one  or  more  experts  from 
the  state  college,  who  furnish  directions  for 
carrying  out  the  plan,  and  keep  track  of  its 
progress  by  letter,  and  are  always  available  for 
advice  in  an  emergency. 

Report  of  the  Farmer  in  Charge  of  the  Porter 

School   Demonstration    Farm   from    May 

12th  to  December  31st,  1916. 

PLAT  "A" 

As  suggested  by  Mr.  Childers — this  was  to 
be  utilized  for  a  crop  of  Feterita.  Owing  to  ex- 
cessive rains  at  this  season  (early  May)  much 
of  the  work  was  delayed  to  permit  soil  being 
gotten  into  proper  condition.  This  explains  the 
apparent  delay  in  beginning  work. 

June  5th. — Ground  disked  and  sowed  to  Fe- 


278         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

terita — about  two  thirds  of  plot — 25  Ibs.     A 
hard  rain  the  following  day  packed  the  ground 
so  badly  that  seed  did  not  germinate.    There- 
fore— 
June  21st. — Sowed  Feterita  again. 

RESULTS  OF  WORK  ON  PLAT  "A" 

Feterita — one  and  one-half  tons  (produced 
from  seven  pounds  of  seed  used  in  re-seeding). 

PLAT"D" 

Soy  beans.  May  16th-18th. — Hauling  lime, 
spreading  same  and  disking. 

June  5th. — Sowed  one  and  one-half  gallons 
seed. 

September  2d. — Plowed  under  crop,  dragged, 
disked  and  harrowed. 

October  9th.— Spread  800  Ibs.  of  lime,  45  Ibs. 
Bone  Meal.  Sowed  three-quarters  bushel  of 
wheat. 

Soy  Beans  were  double  drilled  with  corn 
planter.  A  heavy  rain  following  the  sowing 
caused  poor  germination  and  as  the  crop  did 
not  seem  worth  harvesting,  it  was  turned  under 
for  soil  improvement  purposes. 

Time  spent  by  man — 15  hrs. 


AGRICULTURE  AND  CURRICULUM    279 

Time  spent  by  team — 18.25  hrs.  (discrepancy 
caused  by  the  fact  that  four  horses  were  neces- 
sary for  disking). 

PlAT"G" 

May  22d. — Trees  planted.  Soil  was  disked — 
weeds  mowed — grapes  hoed.  Extreme  drought 
prevented  sowing  of  cover  crop.  No  pruning 
done  other  than  that  by  Mr.  Baker.  Trees  have 
been  wrapped. 

Time  spent  by  man — 6.75  hrs. 

Time  spent  by  team — 6  hrs. 

MISCELLANEOUS  WORK  DONE. 

On  fence  rows  and  other  waste  lands. 

Sour  Dock,  etc.,  pulled.    Weeds  cut  down,  etc. 

Time  spent  by  man — 13  hours. 

4,700  Ibs.  hay  secured. 

The  following  information  is  desired  by  the 
farm  worker.  What  fertilizing  treatment  shall 
be  employed — if  any — on  these  various  plats  for 
the  coming  yearf 

What  is  the  proper  proportion  of  Sudan 
Grass  seed  to  the  acre? 

Besides  the  continuous  work  on  definite  proj- 


280         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

ects  involved  in  the  farm  the  poultry  club  and 
the  school  gardens,  other  agricultural  lessons 
are  introduced  into  the  curriculum  whenever  it 
is  seems  desirable  to  do  so.  Any  emergency 
which  arises  in  the  community  is  met  by  the 
children  in  the  class-rooin  lessons,  just  as 
it  must  be  met  on  the  farm  by  the  ac- 
tual workers.  The  children's  work,  while 
theoretical,  has  one  advantage  over  that  of  their 
parents,  it  is  always  the  best  and  most  ap- 
proved scientific  method  of  meeting  the  particu- 
lar problem.  Often  it  is  the  information  that 
the  children  carry  home  that  enables  their  par- 
ents to  deal  with  a  difficulty  promptly  and  ef- 
fectively. 

One  of  the  best  examples  of  this  is  the 
story  of  the  Blister  Beetle.  The  second  spring 
of  the  new  school  this  pest  appeared  in 
great  numbers  and  began  destroying  plants  and 
flowers.  Mrs.  Harvey  remembered  having  seen 
a  few  of  them  in  the  school  garden  the  summer 
before.  She  asked  the  farmers  and  was  told 
that  it  was  one  of  the  commonest  and  worst 
pests.  They  said  sometimes  it  was  so  bad  that 
the  gardens  were  entirely  destroyed ;  there  was 
nothing  to  do  about  it  except  take  switches  and 
thrash  them  off  the  plants.  This  did  not  sound 
like  a  very  thorough  method  of  dealing  with  a 


AGRICULTURE  AND  CURRICULUM    281 

pest,  but  Mrs.  Harvey  tried  and  found  as  she 
expected  that  the  beetles  returned  to  the  plants 
almost  instantly  in  as  large  numbers  as  ever. 
She  found  a  bulletin  which  described  the  best 
methods  of  dealing  with1  the  beetle;  and  when 
the  children  came  to  school  the  next  morning 
and  found  the  sweet  peas  black  with  the  bugs, 
she  had  a  pan  with  kerosene  in  it  and  showed 
the  children  how  to  brush  the  bugs  into  it  as 
the  bulletin  had  said.  The  next  morning  there 
were  fewer  beetles  on  the  flowers  and  the  chil- 
dren tried  the  kerosene  again.  Then  Mrs.  Har- 
vey read  them  the  bulletin  and  had  the  school 
write  papers  on  the  information  they  gained 
from  it  and  their  own  experiences  in  using  kero- 
sene in  the  school  yard.  They  took  their  pa- 
pers home  with  great  pride,  to  give  their 
parents  advice  as  to  the  best  way  of  really  les- 
sening the  pest.  Many  of  the  children  tried  the 
simple  kerosene  method  at  home.  At  another 
time  hog-cholera  was  raging  in  that  part  of  the 
state ;  and  Mrs.  Harvey  gave  the  school  a  whole 
series  of  lessons  on  the  best  ways  of  preventing 
it,  and  the  best  course  to  follow  if  any  suspi- 
cious symptoms  were  noticed.  The  children 
used  the  information  given  so  effectively  that 
the  disease  did  not  get  into  the  district  at  all, 
although  it  was  raging  near  by. 


282         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

When  the  government  began  sending  out  ap- 
peals and  information  to  the  farmer  as  to  his 
responsibility  for  increasing  the  food  supply 
during  the  war,  Mrs.  Harvey  spent  a  lot  of  time 
in  the  class  room  making  the  pupils  familiar 
with  the  food  situation  in  the  Allied  countries, 
the  kind  of  foods  necessary  for  armies,  the 
transportation  problem,  other  sources  of  grain, 
the  effect  of  war  on  the  labor  supply,  and  the 
ways  in  which  Porter  would  be  affected  by  all 
these  things,  as  well  as  the  best  ways  for  them 
to  do  their  share  towards  meeting  them  all. 
This  information  was  reinforced  by  more  con- 
crete lessons  in  war  crops,  and  how  to  grow 
them,  methods  of  food  conservation,  etc.  The 
result  has  been  that  the  whole  community  from 
the  very  first  has  been  able  to  assume  its  full 
share  of  extra  production  and  conservation. 
They  have  known  not  merely  that  it  was  ex- 
pected of  them,  but  why  it  was  needed  and  how 
to  do  it. 

Dealing  with  pests  in  any  other  way  than  that 
recommended  for  the  Blister  Beetle  was  prac- 
tically unknown  in  Porter  before  Mrs.  Harvey  *s 
advent.  After  this  first  experience  she  did  not 
wait  for  some  particular  bug  to  appear  to  make 
an  occasion  for  a  lesson  in  its  extermination. 
From  time  to  time  as  a  new  bulletin  appears, 


h 

P 

0 


ft 


H 
u 
c/. 


~ 

h 


AGRICULTURE  AND  CURRICULUM    283 

there  is  a  lesson  on  some  pest ;  this  includes  not 
only  the  best  practical  measures  for  dealing 
with  it,  but  the  life  history  of  the  animal  and 
the  particular  way  in  which  it  injures  crops 
and  which  ones  it  attacks.  These  lessons  are 
entered  in  the  agricultural  note-books,  and  the 
information  is  always  at  hand  in  case  of  need. 
It  is  chiefly  through  these  occasional  lessons 
that  effective  methods  of  keeping  down  pests 
have  appeared  in  the  neighborhood.  Plants  are 
treated  now  as  a  matter  of  course  for  cut 
worms,  scale,  potato  bugs,  currant  worms,  and 
all  the  commoner  things  that  the  farmer  has  to 
struggle  against  constantly. 

Other  government  or  university  bulletins  are 
used  for  text-books  as  they  appear.  The  chil- 
dren learn  about  new  crops,  why  they  should  be 
introduced  and  how  they  must  be  treated.  They 
learn  about  new  discoveries  that  will  help  the 
farmer,  labor-saving  devices,  machinery,  and 
storage  methods.  Legislation  that  affects  agri- 
culture is  discussed  as  it  is  passed,  and  the 
school  is  kept  in  contact  with  the  changing  ec- 
onomic interests  of  farmers,  and  their  relation 
to  the  state  and  national  government.  These 
lessons  are  not  forced,  and  do  not  necessarily 
form  a  part  of  the  daily  program.  But  when- 
ever anything  occurs  of  general  interest  or  im- 


284         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOB  OLD 

portance  to  the  farmer,  it  is  used  in  the  class 
room.  The  work  is  usually  introduced  by  a 
little  talk  and  discussion  at  the  morning  exer- 
cises; and  a  few  pupils  are  started  on  a  more 
thorough  investigation  of  the  subject.  They 
report  the  results  of  their  work  to  the  school, 
and  one  or  two  classes  write  papers  on  what 
they  have  learned  or  write  the  information  in 
their  note-books;  the  younger  children  have 
reading  and  spelling  lessons  with  the  new  words 
employed  in  the  discussion,  and  any  lessons  in 
elementary  science  or  nature  study  are  followed 
up. 

Through  the  work  in  the  class  room,  the 
community  learns  to  make  use  of  all  the  agencies 
the  government  maintains  to  help  country 
dwellers.  Porter  has  the  reputation  now  for 
being  a  progressive  community  interested  in 
scientific  agriculture,  and  ready  to  take  hold  of 
any  new  movement  that  promises  to  be  of  use. 
Therefore,  people  are  glad  to  give  them  the  best 
service  at  their  command.  Experiment  stations 
send  all  their  bulletins  and  pamphlets  to  Porter. 
One  of  the  most  significant  things  about  this 
phase  of  the  work  is  the  fact  that  unless  an  in- 
dividual farmer  makes  a  special  request  for 
something,  the  work  is  all  done  through  the  chil- 
dren. Bulletins  are  not  sent  to  each  farm,  but 


AGRICULTURE  AND  CURRICULUM    285 

a  bundle  large  enough  for  the  whole  community 
is  sent  to  the  school.  It  is  opened  there  by  the 
children  under  the  teacher's  supervision,  the 
material  is  divided  and  taken  home  by  the  pu- 
pils, who  have  found  out  just  why  the  things 
were  sent  out,  and  how  they  are  useful. 

Families  with  an  excess  supply  of  something 
will  send  plants  to  school  to  be  distributed 
among  neighbors  not  so  fortunate.  At  the  right 
seasons  of  the  year  the  school  carries  on  quite  a 
brisk  business  as  distributing  center  for  the 
community.  The  work  involved  is  all  done  by 
the  children,  and  all  of  it  is  turned  into  a  truly 
educational  experience.  They  are  never  asked 
to  perform  a  task  without  understanding  the 
reasons  for  it ;  why  they  should  do  it  that  way, 
and  what  it  should  contribute  to  themselves  or 
the  community.  Directions  for  planting  or 
transplanting,  pruning,  spraying,  etc.,  are  never 
given  as  a  series  of  meaningless  acts  which 
must  be  reproduced,  but  the  principles  involved 
are  explained.  The  value  of  this  method  of  ap- 
proach is  proven  by  the  attitude  of  everyone 
towards  farming  and  its  problems.  Where  a 
listless  feeling  of  discouragement  used  to  meet 
every  difficulty,  the  people  tackle  it  now  with  the 
assurance  that  if  they  understand  it  they  will 
be  able  to  conquer  it.  Book  farming  has  found 


286         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

its  real  place.  Farmers  know  that  book  knowl- 
edge cannot  take  the  place  of  the  skill  that 
comes  from  practice,  bnt  they  also  know  that 
books  are  the  very  best  way  for  them  to  find  out 
the  things  that  they  don't  know.  They  have 
learned  that  things  grow  according  to  certain 
physical  and  chemical  laws,  and  that  recog- 
nizing them  in  handling  crops  will  give 
an  increased  yield  and  a  surer  method  of 
work. 

Most  of  the  children  in  the  school  evince  a 
positive  enthusiasm  for  farming.  They  have 
found  all  the  things  they  have  learned  about 
plants  and  animals  so  fascinating  that  routine 
work  ceases  to  be  irksome  in  the  light  of  the 
splendid  accomplishment  they  know  how  to 
bring  about.  There  is  little  danger  that  the 
majority  of  the  young  people  in  Porter  to-day 
will  not  choose  to  remain  on  farms  for  their 
life  work.  And  they  will  be  making  a  real 
choice,  not  just  staying  through  lack  of  ambi- 
tion or  equipment  to  try  anything  else.  They 
.know  that  the  mere  business  of  raising  things 
calls  for  knowledge  and  skill  of  every  sort ;  that 
it  gives  opportunities  for  doing  a  little  of  all 
the  most  interesting  kinds  of  work :  engineering, 
physics,  chemistry,  botany,  nature  study,  sani- 
tation, bookkeeping,  economics,  scientific  man- 


AGRICULTURE  AND  CURRICULUM    287 

agement  and  many  other  kinds  of  knowledge  are 
all  called  for  on  the  modern  farm. 

During  the  past  year  the  children  of  the 
school  have  undertaken  two  new  pieces  of  work 
that  promise  to  be  of  real  value  to  all  the  farms 
of  the  district.  Because  of  the  initiative  taken 
by  the  school  nearly  every  family  has  tested  all 
its  corn  before  planting  this  spring.  The  story 
of  the  connection  between  the  school  and  this 
innovation  is  best  told  in  the  words  of  a  pupil 
of  twelve  who  wrote  the  story  at  home  to  send 
in  to  the  county  farm  bureau: 

"During  the  month  of  March  two  or  three 
men  came  from  Columbia  to  the  Porter 
school  house  to  talk  to  the  farmers  urging 
them  to  test  their  seed  corn  because  in  nearly 
every  corn  section  the  corn  was  testing  out 
poor. 

"Some  of  the  farmers  tried  the  egg  case 
method,  but  we  thought  it  would  not  be  very 
handy  in  our  homes.  Mrs.  Harvey,  our  teacher 
at  the  Porter  School,  was  fond  of  the  Rag  Doll 
test  and  so  she  had  all  the  children  bring  five  or 
more  ears  of  their  fathers'  corn  to  school  to 
show  them  how  to  test  their  corn  by  the  Rag 
Doll  method.  It  was  not  long  till  some  of  the 
parents  were  interested  in  what  their  children 
were  doing,  so  most  of  us  got  to  work  in  testing 


288         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

our  corn  when  he  found  out  how  poor  some  of 
it  was  testing  at  school. 

"I  think  papa  let  us  children  take  fifty  ears  to 
school  and  only  thirty  were  good.  So  papa 
quickly  made  up  his  mind  to  let  us  four  children 
test  his  corn,  and  we  all  went  to  work  to  test 
corn  till  we  had  enough  to  plant  fifty  acres. 

"Our  first  test  consisted  of  corn  picked  out  of 
the  crib.  Out  of  one  hundred  there  were  only 
fifty-nine  good  ears. 

"For  the  second  test  papa  tested  one  hundred 
with  the  Jack  Knife  test,  and  we  put  them  in  the 
Bag  Doll  test,  and  sixty-nine  were  good. 

"In  the  third  test,  we  had  four  hundred  ears 
which  were  gathered  early  last  fall  which  tested 
three  hundred  ninety-two  good. 

"The  fourth  test  we  put  in  was  corn  picked 
out  for  seed  while  gathering  and  laid  up  in  the 
corn  crib  loft,  and  seventy-two  were  good  out 
of  one  hundred. 

* '  The  fifth  was  picked  while  gathering  and  put 
up  in  crib ;  out  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  ears, 
seventy-two  were  good. 

"In  the  sixth  and  seventh  test,  the  corn  was 
picked  while  gathering  and  put  in  the  crib.  In 
the  sixth  out  of  one  hundred  twenty,  seventy- 
three  were  good,  and  in  the  seventh  test,  fifty- 
three  were  good  out  of  one  hundred. 


AGRICULTURE  AND  CURRICULUM    289 

"Total  number  of  ears  tested,  1,040. 

"  Total  number  of  ears  good,  790. 

"How  glad  we  all  were  that  we  tested  our  seed 
corn  I  We  have  our  fifty  acres  all  planted  and 
it  is  about  six  inches  tall  and  is  ready  to  plow." 

May  27. 1918. 

The  pupils  have  also  started  a  Pig  Club. 
Its  purpose  is  to  try  methods  of  feeding 
which  will  result  in  the  largest  gains  in 
weight.  There  are  seventeen  members  of  the 
club  and  sixteen  of  them  have  taken  one 
or  two  pigs  to  care  for.  The  contract  between 
the  club  and  the  farmer  who  furnished  the  pigs 
shows  the  plans  for  raising  the  animals  and  car- 
ing for  them  through  the  summer.  The  young- 
est member  of  the  club,  a  girl  of  eight,  took  two 
pigs,  and  two  of  the  young  women  of  the  dis- 
trict who  have  been  taking  a  teachers'  training 
course  in  the  Porter  School  joined  and  took 
pigs.  The  children  followed  the  feeding  in- 
struction of  an  expert  from  the  State  Agricul- 
tural College,  and  were  so  successful  that  their 
fathers  who  were  skeptical  at  first  were  con- 
verted and  publicly  announced  their  conversion 
and  intention  to  apply  the  same  methods  to  the 
care  of  their  own  pigs.  In  a  single  year  the 
Pig  Club  has  become  a  rival  of  the  Poultry  Club 


290         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLI 

in  the  estimation  of  the  community  and  has  gen- 
erally improved  feeding  practices. 


PORTER  SCHOOL  PIG  CLUB  CONTRACT 

The  following  is  the  contract  entered  into  by 
Fred  Conner,  party  of  the  first  part,  and  the 
members  of  the  Porter  School  Pig  Club,  parties 
of  the  second  part, — 

Fred  Conner  hereby  agrees  to  furnish  the 
members  of  the  Porter  School  Pig  Club  with 
one  or  two  pigs  as  is  shown  below,  without  cost, 
to  be  weighed,  and  picked  under  his  observance, 
with  the  condition  that  the  members  will  feed 
and  care  for  the  pigs  from  June  1st  to  any  date 
between  November  1st  and  December  1st  (the 
exact  date  to  be  decided  by  the  club  members 
later),  and  at  that  time  sell  the  pigs  back  to 
him.  The  weight  of  the  pig  at  the  time  given 
to  members  will  be  deducted  from  weight  at 
end  of  feeding  period,  and  for  the  gain  in 
pounds  made  on  pig  he  will  pay  the  highest 
market  price  of  Kirksville. 

The  pigs  Fred  will  furnish  us  will  be  regis- 
tered Duroc  Jersey  gilts,  which  are  not  to  be 
bred  by  members  during  the  time  they  are  fed 
and  cared  for. 


AGRICULTURE  AND  CURRICULUM    291 

Fred  will,  when  convenient,  visit  each  home 
and  note  the  care,  condition,  and  growth  of 
pigs,  and  if  advice  is  needed  or  asked  for,  he 
will  give  counsel  to  the  best  of  his  ability.  If 
any  disease  attacks  the  community,  Fred  will 
have  these  pigs  vaccinated.  In  case  of  death  of 
a  pig  Fred  must  be  notified  at  once  (that  he 
may,  if  possible,  ascertain  cause  of  same). 

In  case  of  death  Fred's  loss  is  the  pig  and 
the  member's  loss  is  the  food  fed  the  animal. 

At  the  time  pigs  are  sold  back  to  Fred,  they 
must  not  be  stuffed  with  food  just  before  weigh- 
ing. This  might  cause  sickness  or  even  death 
to  the  pig. 

In  case  Fred  is  called  to  war,  one  of  his  broth- 
ers will  receive  the  pigs  back  under  the  above 
conditions. 

Curiosity,  a  passionate  desire  to  know  things, 
is  perhaps  the  most  universal  characteristic  of 
childhood.  If  this  spirit  of  investigation  can 
be  satisfied  for  country  children  by  giving  them 
an  understanding  of  the  principles  of  things  in- 
terpreted in  farm  terms,  a  generation  of  pros- 
perous, progressive  farmers  will  result.  If  this 
work  is  supplemented  by  teaching,  which 
stresses  the  social  significance  of  life,  the  evo- 
lution of  the  individual  through  the  evolution  of 


292          NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

the  group  to  the  realization  of  the  best  they  are 
capable  of,  a  permanent  body  of  farmers  will 
appear  who  will  take  their  place  in  the  nation. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  PLACE  OF  READING  AND  WRITING  IN  THE 
CURRICULUM 

BECAUSE  of  distance,  weather,  bad  roads  and 
hard  work,  isolation  is  a  comparatively  per- 
manent characteristic  of  farm  life.  Farmers 
need  social  stimulation  in  order  to  reduce  this 
isolation  to  a  minimum.  But  they  also  need  a 
fund  of  ideals,  information  and  interests  to 
carry  them  through  the  unavoidable  loneliness. 
Forced  isolation  cannot  fail  to  be  demoralizing 
if  the  individual  has  not  a  good  stock  of  re- 
sources within  himself.  Besides  the  fund  of 
ideals  and  ambitions  necessary  to  prepare 
young  people  to  undertake  life  in  the  country, 
a  definite  equipment  is  needed  to  enable  them  to 
cope  with  its  problems.  The  ability  to  read  eas- 
ily and  a  knowledge  of  how  to  get  reading  mat- 
ter is  the  first  essential  in  this  equipment. 
Books  can  furnish  the  farmer  with  all  the  agri- 
cultural information  that  he  needs  to  keep  up 
the  best  type  of  scientific  farming.  They  also 
furnish  recreation,  ideas,  food  for  thought,  and 
a  genera]  mental  life  which  is  necessary  to 


294          NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

every  growing  individual.  Even  a  progressive 
and.  socialized  rural  community  is  so  largely 
cut  off  from  direct  contacts  with  the  outside 
world  that  it  must  rely  upon  printed  matter. 
Therefore,  it  is  very  important  that  growing 
children  should  acquire  facility  in  reading  and 
habits  of  getting  recreation  and  information 
from  books. 

The  ordinary  methods  of  teaching  reading 
do  no  more  than  give  a  child  the  knowledge  of 
letters  and  sounds,  which  will  enable  him  to 
develop  his  own  use  of  the  tool  if  he  has  suffi- 
cient practice.  Farm  children  see  nothing  at 
home  to  encourage  them  to  get  books  or  to  form 
habits  of  reading.  The  school  must  teach  them 
not  only  how  to  recognize  words  and  printed 
letters,  but  the  use  and  pleasure  to  be  derived 
from  a  familiarity  with  books.  The  child  must 
learn  to  understand  what  he  is  reading  if  he  is 
to  make  any  use  of  books  in  his  out  of  school 
life.  To  be  able  to  read  with  profit  requires  a 
fair  vocabulary  and  the  ability  to  grasp  compli- 
cated ideas.  Beading  develops  these  qualities. 
Therefore,  the  first  essential  in  teaching  read- 
ing even  to  beginners  is  to  teach  the  uses  of 
books  and  that  the  idea  is  the  real  unit  in  the 
mechanics  of  reading. 

At  Porter  beginners  are  not  taught  their  let- 


PLACE  OF  READING  AND  WRITING    295 

ters  nor  yet  isolated  words,  for  the  teacher  be- 
lieves that  too  much  emphasis  cannot  be  placed 
upon  the  idea  as  the  real  unit.  From  their 
first  day  at  school  the  pupils  read  simple  sen- 
tences. Very  brief  sentences  about  some  topic 
of  interest  to  the  whole  school  are  written  on 
the  board.  The  teacher  reads  one  to  the  begin- 
ners, pointing  to  each  word  as  she  pronounces 
it.  Some  one  word  reappears  in  all  the  sen- 
tences. In  this  way  the  children  learn  to  recog- 
nize a  word  in  a  few  moments.  The  sentences 
are  copied  each  day  and  the  teacher  may  use  the 
same  sentence  for  several  successive  lessons. 
Each  word  is  written  as  a  unit,  but  in  reading 
the  sentences  the  individual  syllables  of  each 
word  are  emphasized  so  that  the  child  learns 
to  break  up  a  word  into  parts  just  as  he  learns 
to  break  the  whole  sentence  into  words. 

A  series  of  lessons,  of  which  the  following  is 
an  example,  was  given  in  January  to  the  class 
that  entered  school  the  previous  October.  The 
lessons  were  developed  from  the  present  of  a 
box  of  oranges  which  was  sent  to  the  school. 
The  children  had  already  had  some  sentences 
and  were  given  typewritten  sheets  containing 
the  story  as  far  as  it  had  gone.  While  they 
were  busy  reading  the  teacher  was  putting  a 
new  sentence  on  the  board.  She  cautioned 


296          NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

them  once,  saying:  "If  you  think  out  loud,  no- 
body else  can  think. ' '  After  reading  from  their 
papers,  they  attacked  the  new  sentence:  "The 
oranges  were  sent  from  Los  Angeles,  Califor- 
nia. "  One  child  asked  for  help  with  the  word 
"sent."  All  the  aid  the  teacher  gave  was  to 
write  the  word  "s — ent,"  and  the  child  under- 
stood. Another  one  had  some  difficulty  saying 
Los  Angeles.  The  word  was  written  "Los  An- 
ge-les"  and  the  teacher  asked,  "How  many 
times  do  I  speak  when  I  say  Los  An-ge-les? 
Then  when  I  say  or-an-ges  and  when  I  say 
sent?"  The  class  is  allowed  to  group  itself 
informally  about  the  blackboard  while  one  of 
these  lessons  is  going  on.  They  usually  stand 
and  move  about  so  that  they  can  see  to  the  best 
advantage.  They  are  always  very  quiet  and 
remember  that  they  are  only  one  part  of  a  large 
roomful  of  children  doing  a  number  of  different 
things. 

One  morning  on  the  way  to  school  in  the 
wagon  the  teacher  had  tke  little  children 
spell  some  of  the  words  to  her.  When  asked 
for  the  spelling  of  "oranges,"  a  little  boy  said: 
"I  can't  spell  that  word  but  I  can  write  it,"  and 
he  named  the  letters  in  the  word  correctly.  The 
children  were  all  delighted  to  learn  that  they 
could  spell.  Emphasis  is  never  put  on  the  mere 


PLACE  OF  BEADING  AND  WRITING    297 

spelling  of  words,  but  a  list  of  new  words  is 
chosen  from  each  lesson  for  practice  in  reading, 
writing  and  sentence  making.  The  same  mate- 
rial makes  both  reading  and  writing  lessons. 
By  writing  words  as  they  learn  to  read  them, 
the  pupils  learn  to  spell  them  without  being  con- 
scious that  spelling  is  a  separate  process. 

The  primary  group  learned  the  following 
words  and  read  the  sentences  as  part  of  a  se- 
ries of  lessons  based  on  the  box  of  oranges : 

Oranges,  box,  California,  Mr.  Howard,  Los 
Angeles,  sweet,  sour,  yellow,  Wells-Fargo  Ex- 
press. 

Children,  the  box  of  oranges  is  here. 

Ora  brought  the  box  in  the  wagon. 

They  are  nice,  yellow,  California  oranges. 

LESSON  FOR  JANUARY  21. 

Win-field,  did  you  eat  your  orange? 
Lorena,  was  your  orange  sweet? 
Glen,  was  your  orange  sourf 
Helen,  was  your  orange  yellow? 
Where  did  your  oranges  come  from,  children? 
Do  you  like  Mr.  Howard?    Why? 
Because  he  sent  the  Porter  school  a  box  of 
California  oranges. 
They  were  such  big,  sweet,  yellow  oranges. 


298         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

The  oranges  were  sound. 

Not  one  orange  was  spoiled. 

Because  they  were  picked  by  hand. 

Each  orange  was  wrapped  iir tissue  paper. 

LESSON  FOB  JANUARY  22. 

The  oranges  were  sent  from  Los  Angeles, 
California. 

They  were  shipped  on  a  train. 

They  came  by  the  Wells-Fargo  Express. 

LESSON  FOR  JANUARY  23. 

They  came  to  Kirksville  by  the  Wells-Fargo 
Express. 

The  train  came  over  the  mountains. 

It  took  a  long  time  for  the  box  of  oranges  to 
reach  Kirksville. 

LESSON  FOR  JANUARY  24. 

Mrs.  Harvey  uses  a  very  simple  game  in  her 
reading  and  writing  lessons.  She  will  write  a 
question  on  the  blackboard,  prefacing  it  with  a 
pupil's  name.  Nothing  at  all  is  said  if  the  pupil 
is  able  to  read  his  sentence.  He  walks  to  the 
board  and  writes  the  answer.  This  exercise 


PLACE  OF  READING  AND  WRITING    299 

arouses  the  keenest  interest,  but  the  class  is 
always  very  considerate  about  giving  the  indi- 
vidual plenty  of  time  to  read  and  answer  his 
question.  When  there  are  several  questions 
and  answers  on  the  board  the  other  members  of 
the  class  take  turns  in  reading  them  aloud  and 
suggesting  corrections  or  improvements  in  the 
answers. 

Practically  all  of  the  reading  and  writing  ex- 
ercises for  the  primary  group  are  taken  from 
events  that  happen  in  the  school.  Very  often 
the  information  which  is  given  in  a  morning  ex- 
ercise will  be  emphasized  by  using  words  and 
sentences  from  it  for  lessons.  A  Washington 
birthday  party  furnished  the  material  for  the 
following  lessons : 

There  were  little  square  cakes  covered  with 
thick  chocolate  icing. 

Some  of  these  cakes  had  cocoanut  icing. 

Matthew  and  Lorena  liked  the  cocoanut  cake 
best. 

Raymond,  Helen  and  Winfield  liked  the  choc- 
olate icing  best. 

Mrs.  Waters  made  the  cake  for  us. 

Because  she  likes  to  make  little  children 
happy. 

Each  one  had  as  much  cake  as  he  wanted. 


300         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

The  room  was  very  pretty. 

It  was  decorated  with  red,  white  and  blue 
bunting. 

There  were  little  flags  back  of  Lincoln's  bust. 

There  were  two  flags  back  of  Washington's 
picture. 

All  the  words  in  these  sentences  were  success- 
fully read  by  children  who  had  begun  to  go  to 
school  for  the  first  time  that  fall. 

The  children  in  the  primary  group  read  from 
four  to  six  books  of  their  grade  and  do  it  easily. 
There  is  no  fixed  time  for  the  introduction  of 
books,  but  they  are  given  to  the  class  when  the 
group  and  the  individuals  in  it  are  ready  to  read 
them;  usually  after  they  have  been  in  school 
three  or  four  months.  The  blackboard  lessons 
go  on  from  eight  to  twelve  months,  in  fact  they 
never  really  stop,  as  things  of  interest  to  differ- 
ent groups  are  written  on  the  board  daily  and 
furnish  a  stimulus  to  the  younger  children. 

The  reading  is  further  stimulated  by  dra- 
matics, all  the  younger  classes  are  given  plenty 
of  time  to  work  out  the  dramatization  of  fables 
and  stories.  The  primary  group  acts  out  such 
things  as  the  fable  of  the  Lion  and  the  Mouse, 
going  through  the  story  several  times  in  a 
morning  with  different  children  taking  the 


PLACE  OF  READING  AND  WRITING    301 

parts.  The  work  is  done  with  almost  no  coach- 
ing ;  if  a  child  is  at  a  loss  as  to  how  to  express 
the  story  he  is  given  a  suggestion,  but  other- 
wise the  work  is  entirely  spontaneous.  The  shy 
pupils  are  asked  to  take  a  part,  and  urged  a 
little,  but  they  are  never  forced  to,  and  grad- 
ually their  self-consciousness  wears  off  and  they 
are  clamoring  for  parts  with  the  rest  of  the 
class.  The  stories  which  lend  themselves  to 
dramatization  are  read  over  and  over  with  the 
greatest  care  by  the  children  so  that  they  can 
take  their  parts  without  hesitation. 

Mrs.  Harvey 's  success  in  teaching  reading  is 
perhaps  what  strikes  a  visitor  as  the  most  re- 
markable thing  about  the  school.  One  cannot 
fail  to  agree  with  her  that  it  is  largely  due  to 
her  insistence  upon  the  thought  back  of  the 
words.  Children  use  books  and  read  to  them- 
selves very  little  the  first  year,  in  order  to  pre- 
vent the  development  of  mechanical  habits  of 
reading.  By  taking  lessons  chiefly  from  things 
that  go  on  in  the  school  room  Mrs.  Harvey  as- 
sures interest.  The  sentences  and  words  the 
children  read  and  write  are  simply  one  way  of 
telling  each  other  or  the  teacher  about  the 
things  they  have  been  doing.  A  pupil  is  never 
told  to  hurry  up,  and,  if  he  starts  to  read  a  sen- 
tence word  by  word  as  if  he  had  not  grasped  its 


302          NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

meaning,  the  teacher  stops  him,  saying:  "Be 
snre  you  know  what  it  is  you  want  to  tell  us  be- 
fore you  start. ' '  In  this  way  she  emphasizes  the 
fact  that  reading  is  a  real  method  of  expression 
and  communication.  The  children's  power  of 
expression  is  developed  by  reading  aloud  and 
talking  to  the  school.  The  first  reading  lessons 
are  conducted  orally.  A  sentence  or  a  simple 
idea  is  the  unit.  The  child  looks  at  the  words 
until  he  grasps  their  meaning  and  then  reads 
aloud.  Accuracy  and  careful  observation  are 
insured  by  correcting  any  mistake  he  has  made 
after  he  has  read  the  whole  sentence. 

The  youngest  child  in  the  school  is  just  as 
likely  to  be  called  upon  to  speak  during  morn- 
ing exercises  as  one  of  the  older  pupils.  The 
class  room  is  always  orderly  and  the  atmo- 
sphere friendly  and  informal.  In  a  few  weeks 
even  a  timid  child  learns  to  stand  in  front  of 
the  school  and  say  what  he  has  to  say  briefly 
and  without  embarrassment.  If  a  beginner 
starts  to  hesitate  and  repeat  himself,  the 
teacher  merely  suggests  that  he  stop  a  moment 
and  think.  The  writer  heard  a  nervous  boy 
barely  six  years  old  with  a  pronounced  stutter, 
tell  the  school  without  any  hesitation  and  in 
coherent  sentences  the  history  of  his  flock  of 
chickens.  The  oral  recitations  are  a  help  to  the 


PLACE  OF  READING  AND  WRITING    303 

children  in  learning  to  read.  People  cannot 
read  easily  language  which  employs  expressions 
and  trains  of  thought  which  are  beyond  them. 
By  developing  power  of  expression  and  a  vocab- 
ulary, the  thinking  power  of  the  children  is  in- 
creased and  with  it  their  ability  to  follow  more 
and  more  difficult  reading  matter. 

The  work  with  the  older  children  is  conducted 
in  the  same  way.  Formal  reading  lessons  cease 
as  a  group  acquires  sufficient  facility  to  read 
with  little  assistance  from  the  teacher.  The 
younger  classes  use  school  readers,  but  they  are 
given  to  the  pupils  as  pleasant  reading  matter : 
and  often  the  same  class  will  be  reading  from 
two  or  three  different  books.  They  read  the 
stories  to  themselves  as  they  sit  at  their  tables 
and  afterwards  review  them  orally.  The 
teacher  will  read  a  whole  story  to  the  class  as 
they  follow  with  open  books,  or  two  or  three 
children  will  read  a  story  several  paragraphs 
at  a  time.  Short  stories  are  selected  in  order 
to  finish  the  oral  reading  in  one  lesson.  This 
prevents  the  loss  of  interest  which  always  re- 
sults in  choppy,  mechanical  reading. 

Once  a  group  of  children  has  acquired  facil- 
ity in  reading,  Mrs.  Harvey  spends  no  more 
time  on  reading  lessons.  The  books  and  papers 
which  classes  read  for  other  school  subjects 


304         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOB  OLD 

furnish  ample  practice.  As  they  progress  to 
more  advanced  work,  the  text-books  naturally 
become  more  involved  and  have  a  more  difficult 
vocabulary.  Their  power  of  reading,  conse- 
quently, increases  with  their  progress  in  sub- 
ject matter.  By  this  method  the  busy  one-room 
teacher  saves  the  time  of  the  usual  reading  pe- 
riod and,  in  addition,  the  children  are  prac- 
ticing and  acquiring  skill  with  material  which 
lias  real  educational  value.  Interest  and  skill 
keep  pace  with  each  other.  Children  who  can 
read  only  in  a  hesitating  and  uncertain  manner 
cannot  possibly  be  as  much  interested  in  a  les- 
son or  get  as  much  from  it  as  a  child  who  has 
mastered  the  machinery  of  reading. 

Porter  pupils  get  more  varied  experience  in 
reading  than  children  in  most  country  schools. 
An  entire  class  does  not  usually  read  the  same 
book,  because  Mrs.  Harvey  realizes  that  stimu- 
lating the  interest  in  and  desire  for  learning  is 
half  the  battle  in  educating  country  children. 
Besides  the  text-books  that  the  law  requires  in 
every  school,  Porter  owns  a  small  collection  of 
standard  reference  books  and  supplementary 
readings.  Part  of  a  class  will  follow  the  text- 
book, the  rest  will  read  about  the  topic  in  other 
books.  In  recitation  periods  pupils  do  not 
recite  what  they  have  read  to  enable  Mrs.  Har- 


PLACE  OF  READING  AND  WRITING    305 

vey  to  tell  that  they  have  been  paying  attention ; 
she  requires  them  to  tell  what  they  have  read  so 
that  the  rest  of  the  class  will  be  interested  and 
able  to  profit  by  everyone 's  findings  on  the  sub- 
ject. Very  often  a  pupil  will  be  asked  to  read 
aloud  the  salient  passages  from  his  particular 
text-book. . 

Learning  to  use  the  index  and  references  in 
their  books  is  a  regular  part  of  the  work.  Dic- 
tionaries, word  books,  and  encyclopedias  are 
constantly  consulted.  A  pupil  is  made  respon- 
sible for  understanding  any  new  word  in  what 
he  is  reading.  If  he  uses  the  word  during  a 
recitation  to  the  class,  he  is  expected  to  be  able 
to  explain  its  meaning.  Children  are  taught 
very  young  to  find  the  place  by  page  and  para- 
graph numbers.  They  are  sent  to  get  books 
from  the  book-case  and  shown  how  to  find  chap- 
ters and  topics  from  the  table  of  contents  and 
the  index.  Mrs.  Harvey  often  calls  attention  in 
the  morning  exercises  to  interesting  articles  in 
periodicals  which  she  knows  are  common  in  the 
homes.  Pupils  are  encouraged  to  bring  papers 
and  magazines  to  school  when  they  contain 
things  of  special  interest  or  have  a  bearing  on 
some  project  that  is  under  way  in  the  school. 
She  lends  her  own  books  and  magazines  and  en- 
courages the  children  to  do  the  same.  She  keeps 


306         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

constantly  before  the  children  the  fact  that 
books  and  printed  matter  are  useful  for  two 
reasons:  to  find  out  something  that  one  wants 
to  know  either  for  help  in  work  or  as  a  matter 
of  interest;  and  to  furnish  pleasure  and  men- 
tal stimulation  in  leisure  hours.  Reading  must 
be  constructive  and  creative  or  it  may  degener- 
ate to  a  lazy  pastime.  Mrs.  Harvey  builds  up 
constructive  habits  by  teaching  the  real  uses  of 
reading.  The  children  learn  to  pick  good  books 
for  their  recreational  reading  and  they  know  as 
they  read  them  that  they  promote  their  intel- 
lectual development  and  train  their  taste  and 
imagination. 

In  building  up  habits  of  good  reading  the 
average  country  teacher  has  a  great  advantage 
over  the  city  teacher:  there  are  no  bad  habits 
to  break  down.  Neither  the  children  nor  their 
parents  read  at  all.  The  children  will  follow 
any  line  of  reading  the  teacher  starts  if  she  en- 
lists their  interest  and  gives  them  a  mastery  of 
technique. 

Reading  is  so  largely  an  unknown  accom- 
plishment in  rural  homes  that  the  school  has  not 
only  to  establish  reading  habits,  but  to  contrive 
methods  of  getting  reading  material.  The  use 
Mrs.  Harvey  makes  of  newspapers  and  periodi- 
cals stimulates  families  to  subscribe  for  them. 


PLACE  OF  READING  AND  WETTING    307 

There  is  ample  periodical  literature  in  Porter 
to-day.  But  to  get  libraries  started  in  the 
homes  is  a  slower  and  more  difficult  process. 
The  average  farmer  cannot  afford  at  one  time 
any  large  outlay  for  books.  Once  the  desire  is 
created,  however,  anyone  can  gradually  acquire 
a  library.  If  Mrs.  Harvey  had  relied  on  the 
few  books  that  were  in  the  children's  posses- 
sion and  in  the  small  and  rather  technical  school 
library,  she  would  never  have  been  able  to  feed 
the  taste  for  reading  as  it  developed.  It  was 
absolutely  necessary,  once  she  had  taught  the 
children  how  to  read,  to  get  books  in  sufficient 
quantities.  There  is  no  town  library  in  Kirks- 
ville ;  and  even  if  there  were  a  new  habit  would 
survive  with  difficulty  the  delays  and  uncertain- 
ties of  relying  on  this  distant  source. 

With  the  cooperation  of  the  State  Library 
Commission,  Mrs.  Harvey  worked  out  a  plan  by 
which  the  *  *  Traveling  Libraries ' '  could  be  made 
to  serve  the  children  in  the  rural  schools  better 
perhaps  than  they  had  done  before.  She  made 
out  a  list  of  books  for  a  library  which  would 
meet  the  particular  needs  of  the  pupils  of  a 
rural  school  who  were  just  developing  a  taste 
for  reading  and  learning  how  to  get  pleasure 
and  information  from  books.  The  commission 
was  glad  to  make  up  this  library  and  loan  it  to 


308         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOB  OLD 

the  Porter  school  for  a  year,  as  an  experiment 
in  increasing  the  usefulness  of  their  work.  The 
following  books  made  up  the  first  library  which 
was  selected  with  special  reference  to  the  needs 
of  the  children  who  were  to  use  it. 

"Arabian  Nights" 

Austin "Standish  of  Standish" 

Alcott "Little   Women" 

Alcott "Little   Men" 

Anderson "Fairy  Tales" 

Baker "Boys'  Second  Book  of  Inventions" 

Church "Odyssey  for  Boys  and  Girls" 

Chapman "  Color  Key  to  North  American  Birds ' ' 

Cooper "Last  of  the  Mohicans" 

Cooper "Pathfinder" 

Dickens "  David  Copperfield ' ' 

Dickens "Tale  of  Two  Cities" 

Dodge "Hans  Brinker  or  the  Silver  Skates" 

Dole "Young  Citizen" 

Eastman "Wigwam  Evenings" 

Grimm "Household  Tales" 

Harte "Thankful  Blossom" 

Harris.  ."Uncle  Remus,  His  Songs  and  His  Sayings" 

Hawthorne "Wonderbook  Tanglewood  Tales" 

Henty "Right  of  Conquest" 

Johnson "Her  College  Days" 

Kaler "Toby  Tyler  or  Ten  Weeks  with  a  Circus" 

Keller "Story  of  My  Life" 

Kipling "Jungle  Book" 

Lane "Hundred  Fables  of  La  Fontaine" 

London "Call  of  the  Wild" 

Martineau "Peasant  and  Prince" 

Mounton. "Bible  Stories  of  Old  Testament" 

Mounton "Bible  Stories  of  New  Testament" 

Paret "Harper's  Handy  Book  for  Girls" 

Page "Two  Little  Confederates" 


PLACE  OF  BEADING  AND  WRITING    309 

Parsons "How  to  Know  the  Wild  Flowers'* 

Pyle "Men  of  Iron" 

Pyle "Story  of  King  Arthur' 

Pyle "Merry  Adventures  of  Robin  Hood' 

Reed "Bird  Guide' 

Riis "  Making  of  an  American ' 

Ruskin "King  of  the  Golden  River' 

Scott "Ivanhoe' 

Scott "Talisman' 

Seton "Wild  Animals  I  Have  Known' 

Stowe "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin' 

Thackeray "Rose  and  the  Ring' 

Trowbridge "Cudjo's   Cave' 

Twain "Adventures  of  Huckleberry  Finn' 

Wiggin "Polly  Oliver's  Problem' 

Patmore.  ."Children's  Garland  from  the  Best  Poets' 
St.  John — 

"How  Two  Boys  Made  Their  Own  Electrical  Ap- 
paratus. ' ' 

The  succeeding  libraries  have  contained 
books  of  the  same  quality  and  the  lighter  works 
have  by  no  means  been  the  favorites.  History 
and  biography  are  especially  popular.  Mrs. 
Harvey  has  noticed  that  adults  and  children 
will  read  more  difficult  English  in  books  of  this 
nature  than  they  will  in  fiction.  Humorous  and 
simple  stories  are  the  most  popular  fiction. 
The  children  do  the  library  work  connected  with 
the  loan  and  return  of  books.  The  books  are 
loaned  one  afternoon  a  week  and  the  child  has 
the  privilege  of  keeping  books  for  the  conven- 
tional two  weeks.  Anyone  in  Porter  may  use 
the  library,  but  the  children  usually  take  the 


310         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

books  back  and  forth  for  their  parents.  The 
work  involved  in  keeping  track  of  the  library 
furnished  valuable  lessons  for  the  children. 

Writing  is  another  method  of  making  contact 
with  the  world,  which  is  almost  as  important  in 
the  country  school  as  reading.  In  the  average 
farm  home,  however,  this  means  of  communi- 
cation is  used  even  less  than  reading.  Letters 
are  written  only  when  absolutely  necessary. 
Accounts  and  agricultural  records  are  seldom 
kept.  The  slight  amount  of  writing  that  is 
necessary  in  the  conduct  of  business  and  family 
affairs  is  usually  considered  a  burden,  is  put 
off  as  long  as  possible  and  is  finally  done  with 
a  great  deal  of  difficulty  and  awkwardness. 
Mrs.  Harvey  believes  that  it  is  a  necessity  for 
country  people  to  be  able  to  write  good  simple 
English  easily  before  they  can  make  the  best 
use  of  their  opportunities  in  developing  a  com- 
fortable and  prosperous  farm  life.  Therefore, 
the  school  lays  a  great  deal  of  emphasis  upon 
writing. 

Good  penmanship  Mrs.  Harvey  considers 
even  more  important  than  a  knowledge  of  the 
rules  of  prose.  Because,  for  children  at  least, 
without  good  penmanship  there  can  be  no  real 
facility.  Without  the  ability  to  form  even,  legi- 
ble letters  fairly  rapidly,  a  child  cannot  acquire 


PLACE  OF  READING  AND  WRITING    311 

the  habit  of  writing.  The  mere  fact  that  atten- 
tion is  called  to  his  imperfect,  mechanical  per- 
formance, that  he  is  required  to  copy  and  re- 
copy  and  is  constantly  urged  or  scolded  toward 
a  better  product  will  set  up  an  antagonism  and 
dislike  to  the  act,  which  will  prevent  the  pupil 
from  writing  unless  he  is  driven  to  it.  Just  as 
in  reading,  then,  the  important  thing  is  to  start 
the  beginner  in  the  right  way.  Children  five  or 
six  years  old  have  not  gained  sufficient  control 
of  their  small  muscles  to  enable  them  to  make 
small,  fine  marks  or  to  handle  pen  and  ink. 
Writing  is  a  more  accurate  and  minute  process 
than  anything  they  have  attempted.  Therefore, 
forcing  a  beginner  to  write  small  words  on  a 
small  piece  of  paper  means  that  he  is  straining 
untrained  muscles  to  perform  an  unnatural  task. 
Once  these  habits  of  muscle  strain  are  set  up,  it 
takes  many  years  for  a  child  to  acquire  facility 
with  a  pen  and,  if  he  writes  only  seldom,  it  may 
never  be  acquired.  Writing  is  so  largely  a  mat- 
ter of  muscular  control  that  the  first  lessons 
should  be  arranged  very  carefully  to  fit  the 
muscular  development  of  the  individual. 

A  beginner  in  the  Porter  school  may  not 
touch  paper  or  pencil  for  several  months,  al- 
though reading  and  writing  lessons  commence 
immediately.  A  pupil  usually  writes  his  name 


312         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOE  OLD 

or  a  word  taken  from  a  reading  lesson  first. 
The  teacher  writes  a  word  in  large  letters  on 
the  board  in  yellow  chalk.  Then  the  child  takes 
a  piece  of  chalk  and  traces  the  word  on  the 
board  a  number  of  times.  The  teacher  assists 
his  first  efforts  by  tracing  the  letters  in  the 
copy  several  times,  his  hand  in  hers.  Then,  he 
is  allowed  to  practice  writing  the  word  on  the 
board  as  much  as  he  likes,  provided  he  makes 
big  letters.  Writing  on  the  board  and  making 
big  letters  enables  the  child  to  form  a  correct 
muscular  memory  of  the  letters  from  the  start. 
There  is  no  cramped  position  or  strain  to  pre- 
vent the  muscles  from  assuming  the  right  set 
for  the  formation  of  each  letter.  The  little 
children  continue  at  the  board  for  the  first  three 
or  four  months  of  school,  the  teacher  correcting 
them  only  by  taking  their  hands  and  helping 
them  make  the  movements  of  writing.  After  a 
pupil  has  become  accustomed  to  holding  the 
chalk  and  writing  on  the  board,  he  passes  easily 
to  a  black  crayon  and  big  sheets  of  soft  writing 
paper.  Later  they  use  coarse  drawing  pencils. 
They  keep  on  writing  on  big  paper  with 
coarse  pencils  until  they  have  gained  a  real 
control  of  the  process.  This  continues  through 
their  second  year  at  the  school  and  well  into 
their  third.  As  they  write  more  easily  and 


PLACE  OF  READING  AND  WRITING    313 

evenly,  they  graduate  from  the  big  wrapping 
paper  to  sheets  of  drawing  paper.  The  words 
of  a  beginner  are  often  four  and  five  inches 
high.  Little  children  six  and  seven  years 
will  only  get  about  six  words  on  a  sheet  eighteen 
by  eighteen.  As  they  get  older,  the  size  grad- 
ually decreases.  But  even  when  they  have 
changed  to  drawing  paper,  the  letters  are  often 
an  inch  high.  The  letters  are  even  and  well 
formed,  the  lines  steady,  and  the  spelling,  punc- 
tuation and  capitalization  accurate  by  the  time 
an  easy  transition  to  ink  is  made.  Not  until  the 
pupil  has  actually  acquired  a  good  handwriting 
does  he  begin  writing  in  the  conventional  way. 
As  a  result  of  using  the  very  large  letters 
until  they  are  able  to  write  well,  the  pupils  do 
not  get  the  demoralizing  habit  of  having  two 
handwritings,  a  rapid  but  untidy  and  illegible 
one  for  their  own  notes  and  rough  copy  and  a 
laborious  copy-book  one  which  they  save  for 
show  purposes.  It  is,  however,  necessary  to 
maintain  the  standard  which  is  set.  They  know 
how  to  move  their  muscles  to  write  easily. 
Therefore,  it  is  not  necessary  for  them  to  labor 
endlessly  to  make  a  good-looking  copy.  Mrs. 
Harvey  discourages  the  making  of  rough 
drafts.  Pupils  are  taught  to  plan  ahead  what 
they  want  to  write  and  the  general  form  in 


314         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOE  OLD 

which  they  want  it.  Unless  they  get  badly  con- 
fused, they  are  supposed  to  have  their  first  copy 
in  such  shape  that  it  can  be  handed  in.  How- 
ever, untidy,  badly  written  copies  are  not  ac- 
cepted. Mrs.  Harvey  and  Miss  Crecelius  con- 
stantly remind  the  children  of  the  necessity  of 
keeping  up  their  handwriting  by  always  writing 
as  well  and  as  quickly  as  they  can.  There  are 
no  penmanship  lessons  in  the  program  of  the 
school.  They  are  not  necessary,  because  every 
exercise  in  which  the  pupil  does  any  writing  is 
made  a  penmanship  lesson. 

The  note-book  work  and  Mrs.  Harvey's 
method  of  teaching  spelling  furnish  other  op- 
portunities for  writing  beyond  those  found  in 
the  ordinary  school  curriculum.  Muscular 
memory  is  largely  relied  on  in  teaching  spelling. 
Learning  to  read  by  recognizing  words  and  then 
syllables  as  units  might  result  in  poor  spelling 
if  it  were  not  reinforced  by  exercises  which  in- 
sure accurate  observation.  Writing  words  and 
sentences  as  they  read  forces  the  children  to 
notice  exactly  what  letters  are  used  in  a  word, 
and  their  order.  There  are  no  rules  about  the 
number  of  times  words  or  sentences  must  be 
written.  The  children  write  until  they  are  sat- 
isfied that  they  know  the  word  or  that  the  hand- 
writing suits  them.  In  this  way  their  attention 


PLACE  OF  BEADING  AND  WRITING    315 

is  not  diverted  from  the  essential  thing,  the 
learning  of  the  word.  In  requiring  pupils  to 
copy  words  and  sentences  t*n  or  more  times  the 
teacher  usually  diverts  attention  from  the  word, 
concentrating  it  exclusively  on  the  number  of 
times  it  must  be  written.  The  method  defeats 
its  own  end. 

Mrs.  Harvey  teaches  the  children  the  uses  of 
writing  and  its  purpose  outside  the  school.  In 
this  way  they  learn  not  to  shirk  the  duty  of 
writing  letters.  At  first  the  children  were  more 
awkward  in  expressing  themselves  in  writing 
than  in  speech.  Their  experience  had  been  so 
limited  that  it  was  not  possible  to  expect  much 
original  composition.  Mrs.  Harvey  first  made 
the  children  familiar  with  the  way  other  people 
write  by  giving  them  examples  of  good  writing. 
Letters,  addresses,  editorials  and  short  quota- 
tions were  put  on  the  board  and  copied  into 
note-books.  The  first  invitations  to  community 
gatherings  were  worked  out  by  the  school  as  a 
whole.  Mrs.  Harvey  first  had  a  discussion  of 
what  was  to  be  said;  then  of  its  arrangement. 
Sentences  were  written  on  the  board  as  they 
were  suggested.  Often  several  different  letters 
were  worked  out,  and  the  best  one  selected  for 
use.  But  the  children  quickly  developed  to  the 
point  where  they  had  things  they  wanted  to  say. 


316         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

When  this  stage  was  reached,  Mrs.  Harvey  be- 
gan to  encourage  original  composition.  The 
following  letter  of  thanks  for  a  gift  of  eggs  to 
the  Poultry  Club  was  worked  out  by  the  three 
oldest  classes  in  the  school : 

"Last  Wednesday  was  a  happy  day,  not  only 
for  the  Porter  School  children,  but  for  this  en- 
tire community,  for  it  was  on  that  day  that  the 
pure-bred  Ehode  Island  Red  eggs  you  sent  us 
were  divided  among  the  members  of  the  Poultry 
Club.  We  appreciate  the  gift  because  it  will 
hasten  the  development  of  the  egg  circle  we  are 
planning  to  have  here. 

"We  noticed  how  well  the  eggs  were  packed, 
and  how  uniform  they  were  in  size. 

1  *  There  are  now  thirty- three  members  in  our 
poultry  club,  and  we  are  trying  to  emphasize 
just  two  breeds:  the  Rhode  Island  Reds  and 
White  Leghorns. 

' '  If  ever  you  are  in  this  part  of  the  state,  we 
would  like  for  you  to  visit  us. 

' '  Thanking  you  most  heartily  for  the  gift,  we 
remain, 

"  Sincerely  yours, 

' '  THE  POULTRY  CLUB.  '  ' 

If  the  result  is  as  satisfactory  as  this  letter, 


PLACE  OF  READING  AND  WRITING    317 

it  is  usually  entered  in  the  note-books,  the 
teacher  pointing  out  to  them  that  they  need 
never  shirk  or  feel  embarrassed  at  the  duty  of 
writing  such  a  letter  because  they  now  have  a 
model.  Another  year,  each  child  in  the  poultry 
club  wrote  an  individual  letter  of  thanks  for  his 
setting  of  eggs.  As  the  children  had  acquired 
sufficient  ease  in  writing  and  expressing  them- 
selves each  one  could  write  a  letter.  These  let- 
ters were  written  during  school  hours,  but  with- 
out help  or  supervision  from  the  teacher.  They 
were  sent  in  the  original  form  in  which  they 
were  written.  If  a  pupil  asked  how  to  spell  a 
word,  or  if  some  phrase  were  correct  he  was 
told.  The  first  of  the  examples  here  was  writ- 
ten by  a  boy  of  twelve  and  the  second  by  a  girl 
of  eleven. 

"We  all  thank  you  very  much  for  the  fine 
eggs  from  White  Plains.  I  started  in  the  poul- 
try work  last  year.  I  got  one  sitting  from 
Mountain  Grove,  Missouri,  and  got  one  from 
Ruth  Policy,  for  she  had  the  pure  breed  Rhode 
Island  Reds.  I  had  a  very  poor  hatch,  and  got 
two  more  sittings  from  the  same  places.  From 
the  four  sittings  I  raised  fourteen  chickens.  I 
have  nine  hens  and  one  cock. 


318         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

"I  get  seven  eggs  some  days.  I  have  six 
hens  sitting. 

"My  brother  Clifton  is  going  in  partnership 
with  me  this  year. 

"Thanking  you  and  Mr.  G very  much,  I 

am, 

"Sincerely," 

"I  wish  to  thank  you  for  the  Rhode  Island 
Red  eggs  you  sent  us.  The  eggs  were  certainly 
nice,  and  they  were  packed  well. 

"I  haven't  set  my  eggs  yet,  but  I  am  going  to 
in  the  morning.  "We  didn't  have  a  sitting  hen 
so  I  am  going  to  get  one  from  Mrs.  Harvey.  I 
first  started  in  the  poultry  work  in  1915.  I  had 
the  Buff  Rocks,  then  in  1916  I  raised  the  Rhode 
Island  Reds.  I  like  the  Rhode  Island  Reds  bet- 
ter than  the  Buff  Rocks.  I  wish  very  much  to 

thank  you  and  Mr.  G heartily  for  the  eggs. 

"Sincerely," 

The  note-books  of  the  school  contribute  di- 
rectly to  the  building  up  of  permanent  habits 
of  reading  and  writing.  All  the  older  pupils 
own  three  or  four  thick  note-books,  which  are 
kept  from  year  to  year.  In  one  they  put  quo- 
tations which  appeal  to  them  in  their  reading 
or  to  which  Mrs.  Harvey  has  called  special  at- 


PLACE  OF  READING  AND  WRITING    319 

tention.  They  usually  copy  into  them  every- 
thing which  they  learn  to  recite  at  community 
gatherings  and  they  often  add  selections  of 
other  pupils  which  they  like.  In  another  note- 
book they  keep  letters  and  compositions.  The 
letters  form  a  record  of  some  of  the  most  in- 
teresting events  of  the  school,  as  well  as  fur- 
nishing accessible  models  for  use  at  home.  The 
compositions  are  put  in  because  their  subject- 
matter  is  of  permanent  interest.  Members  of 
the  Poultry  Club  have  note-books  which  give 
the  history  and  detailed  records  of  the  owners* 
experiences  and  an  outline  record  of  the  work 
of  every  member  of  the  club.  Plans  for  coops 
and  chicken  houses  and  directions  from  the  state 
experiment  station  are  also  kept  in  this  book. 
The  older  boys  have  a  book  in  which  they  keep 
a  history  of  the  school  demonstration  farm, 
records  of  their  experiments  in  dealing  with 
pests,  information  of  all  sorts  regarding  agri- 
culture, which  seems  to  them  worth  keeping. 
The  girls  have  a  similar  book  in  which  they 
keep  much  the  same  thing,  substituting  the  in- 
formation gained  at  the  short  courses  in  home 
economics  for  the  more  technical  farm  notes. 

These  note-books  are  among  the  most  prized 
possessions  of  their  owners.  They  contain  rec- 
ords of  the  experiences  which  have  seemed  most 


320         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

valuable  to  the  pupil  himself.  No  two  note- 
books are  exactly  alike.  Aside  from  the  models 
for  good  English,  classes  do  not  enter  things 
from  dictation.  Mrs.  Harvey  may  suggest  that 
a  particular  lesson  or  bit  of  information  would 
be  interesting  for  the  note-books,  but  in  general 
the  pupils  are  allowed  to  use  their  own  judg- 
ment as  to  what  they  consider  of  sufficient  value 
to  keep. 

The  relation  of  reading  and  writing  to  the 
curriculum  takes  on  a  new  significance  after  one 
has  visited  the  Porter  school.  Many  teachers 
have  developed  the  idea  that  since  reading  and 
writing  are  merely  tools,  they  should  be  used  as 
such,  even  in  the  school  room.  But  too  often 
this  has  resulted  in  poor  technique.  The 
opposite  idea  that  form  is  the  desired  result  to 
be  obtained  in  school  is  more  common.  Even 
where  the  teacher  has  a  pedagogical  method 
which  enables  her  pupils  to  gain  control  of  tech- 
nique this  method  fails,  since  it  teaches  only  the 
how,  leaving  the  why  and  wherefore  to  chance. 
Mrs.  Harvey  recognizes  the  necessity  of  ac- 
quiring skill  in  the  use  of  any  tool.  The  more 
important  the  tool  in  the  life  of  the  individual, 
the  more  important  it  is  to  have  efficient  and 
economical  control  of  it.  But  in  teaching  the 
mechanics  of  reading,  writing  and  spelling,  she 


PLACE  OF  BEADING  AND  WRITING    321 

never  loses  sight  of  the  larger  aim.  People 
read  and  write  for  what  it  will  give  them;  and 
in  the  average  meager  country  environment  it 
is  just  as  necessary  that  the  pupil  learn  what 
the  things  are  that  they  can  obtain  from  the 
mastery  of  these  tools,  as  that  they  learn  the 
mastery.  Her  methods  of  teaching  technique 
are  based  on  sound  physical  and  psychological 
knowledge.  Children  are  not  forced  to  do 
stunts  requiring  the  muscular  coordination  of 
their  elders,  and  they  are  taught  to  read  as  they 
think,  in  terms  of  ideas.  In  this  way  technique 
develops  with  practice,  as  the  children  develop. 
Teacher  and  pupil  alike  have  time  to  use  read- 
ing and  writing  for  their  true  purposes,  learn- 
ing things  they  wish  to  know.  Here  as  almost 
everywhere  in  Mrs.  Harvey's  work,  her  essen- 
tial emphasis  on  fundamentals  is  evident. 


CHAPTER 


EDUCATION   FOR  DEMOCRACY 

IF  we  expect  the  farmer  to  be  a  good  citizen, 
earning  a  comfortable  living  and  taking  a  re- 
sponsible part  in  the  government,  we  must  de- 
mand that  the  country  schools  do  their  part 
towards  this  end.  This  does  not  mean  that  the 
child  who  lives  on  the  farm  should  receive  a  dif- 
ferent education  from  the  one  who  expects  to 
work  in  a  mine  or  teach  school,  but  it  does  mean 
that  the  country  child  has  as  much  right  as  the 
city  child  to  a  training  which  will  enable  him 
to  live  in  the  world  in  which  he  finds  himself, 
to  understand  his  share  in  it  and  to  get  a  good 
start  in  adapting  himself  to  it.  It  is  the  busi- 
ness of  every  school  to  train  its  pupils  to  be 
successful  as  human  beings  and  as  American 
citizens.  To  do  this  it  must  take  into  account 
and  make  use  of  the  conditions  around  it;  the 
interests,  the  needs  and  the  occupations  of  the 
families  of  its  pupils. 

The  country  school  must  become  a  real  part 
of  the  active  life  of  the  community;  it  cannot 

322 


EDUCATION  FOR  DEMOCRACY    323 

afford  to  go  its  own  way,  isolated  and  shunting 
off  all  outside  influences.  When  it  has  reor- 
ganized its  curriculum  to  make  use  of  the  en- 
vironment of  the  children  as  the  starting  point 
of  its  education,  it  will  succeed  as  a  public 
school,  and  not  until  then.  Practically  all  edu- 
cators are  agreed  as  to  the  necessity  of  this 
method  of  approach  for  any  school,  but  too 
often  the  training  of  the  teacher  stops  with  the 
exposition  of  educational  theories  which,  how- 
ever self-evident  and  reasonable  they  may 
sound,  are  not  put  into  practice.  Instead  of 
showing  teachers  how  they  may  work  out  their 
own  methods  for  applying  these  theories,  train- 
ing schools  divide  their  time  between  teaching 
the  theories,  based  on  the  needs  of  education 
in  a  democracy  and  practice  aimed  only  at  in- 
suring the  pupil's  mastery  of  what  ought  to 
be  merely  the  tools  they  use  in  acquiring  a  real 
education.  The  situation  is  not  unlike  training 
a  lot  of  carpenters  to  construct  a  public  build- 
ing by  showing  them  pictures  of  other  build- 
ings, telling  them  the  uses  and  beauty  of  what 
they  are  to  do,  and  then  teaching  them  pains- 
takingly how  to  manufacture  hammers,  chisels, 
planes,  all  the  tools  they  will  need  for  their 
work,  but  never  showing  them  how  the  tools 
should  be  used  in  the  erection  of  the  building. 


324         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

Many  teachers  succeed  in  working  out  for  them- 
selves the  connection  between  their  training 
in  methods  of  teaching  and  the  real  purpose 
of  these  methods,  but  their  success  is  due  rather 
to  their  natural  ability  and  interest  in  their  task 
than  to  the  school  practices  they  are  familiar 
with  or  have  learned  about  in  training  classes. 

Teachers  should,  of  course,  know  how  to  teach 
the  mastery  of  the  tools  of  learning,  the  three 
R's,  but  the  common  school  practice  of  to-day 
tends  to  establish  the  idea  that  the  tools  are  the 
thing  itself.  We  cannot  look  for  the  realization 
of  the  educational  ideals  which  we  preach  until 
we  stop  merely  preaching  them  and  begin  teach- 
ing them.  Every  prospective  teacher  should 
learn  the  meaning  and  the  results  for  the  class 
room  of  two  ideas :  First,  that  every  school  must 
be  adapted  to  its  own  particular  neighborhood, 
so  that  the  pupils  may  gain  an  understanding 
of  their  child- world;  and  second,  that  what  is 
to-day  the  end,  reading,  writing,  all  subjects,  is 
merely  the  means  by  which  she  may  lead  pupils 
to  the  understanding  of  the  larger  world  which 
they  should  know  as  adults. 

While  it  may  require  the  genius  of  a  Mrs. 
Harvey  to  realize  these  ideals  for  the  first  time 
in  the  environment  of  our  one-room  schools, 
any  teacher  should  be  able  to  follow  her.  In 


EDUCATION  FOB  DEMOCRACY    325 

spite  of  the  endless  effort  And  thought  that  have 
so  obviously  gone  into  the  creation  of  the  Por- 
ter community,  success  is  bound  to  follow  an 
organic  point  of  view  such  as  Mrs.  Harvey  *s. 
The  ability  to  translate  the  usual  educational 
theories  into  class-room  practice  unhampered 
by  traditional  methods  is,  of  course,  a  requisite, 
but  enthusiasm  for  her  work  and  a  vision  of  a 
new  generation  of  prosperous  and  contented 
farmers  will  give  that  ability  to  the  country 
teacher.  Without  this  vision  conditions  in 
country  schools  cannot  change  very  much,  for 
the  teacher  must  undertake  alone  practically 
every  factor  in  the  reorganization  of  her  school. 
The  first  problem  which  she  must  solve  is  that 
of  her  living.  It  is  obvious  to  any  teacher  that 
Mrs.  Harvey  and  Miss  Crecelius  could  never 
have  done  what  they  have  if  they  had  merely 
boarded  for  the  school  term  in  Porter.  Rural 
.eachers  must  become  integral  parts  of  their 
school  districts,  and  they  nust  have  more  com- 
fortable and  dignified  ways  of  living  than  are 
usual  at  present.  Any  teacher  who  works  at 
her  profession  as  more  than  a  temporary  make- 
shift can  establish  a  home  as  Mrs.  Harvey  has 
done.  This  home  gives  her  a  position  as  a  re- 
sponsible member  of  the  community  and  gives 
her  the  right  to  demand  support  for  changes  in 


326          NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

her  school,  which  she  can  never  have  as  a  tem- 
porary boarder.  Every  time  that  a  teacher 
wrests  such  a  home  for  herself  from  an  indif- 
ferent school  district  she  is  taking  a  big  step  to- 
wards the  time  when  the  state  will  supply 
teachers '  homes  just  as  surely  as  they  do  a  class 
room. 

With  a  home  the  teacher  will  have  more  cour- 
fcr<e  to  undertake  many  of  the  other  tasks  in- 
halved  in  vitalizing  her  school.  All  of  these 
tasks  force  upon  her  the  role  of  community 
leader.  Her  first  step  will  naturally  be  what 
Mrs.  Harvey's  first  step  was — the  rehabilita- 
tion of  the  school  house.  This  requires  either  a 
large  increase  in  taxation  or  the  volunteer  labor 
and  cooperation  of  everyone  in  the  district.  To 
obtain  either  the  teacher  will  have  to  gain  the 
support  of  all  her  school  patrons,  and,  when  she 
has  gained  it  and  worked  with  them  in  making 
over  the  school  house,  she  has  established  her 
position  as  teacher-leader.  When  new  needs 
arise  she  is  the  logical  member  of  the  commun- 
ity to  meet  them.  Her  position  as  teacher 
places  her  above  the  personal  and  political  com- 
plications of  a  neighborhood.  It  gives  her  the 
right  of  approach  to  every  parent,  it  furnishes 
her  with  a  club  house  and  a  group  of  workers 
and  interpreters  in  her  pupils. 


EDUCATION  FOR  DEMOCRACY    327 

Having  made  this  start,  the  reorganization  of 
the  school  and  growth  of  the  community  cannot 
help  following  if  the  teacher  takes  her  program 
from  her  environment.  It  is  obvious  that  a 
community  cannot  be  built  up  on  a  framework 
of  artificial  activities  and  organizations.  Busy 
farmers  and  their  wives  will  rightly  have  scant 
patience  with  a  didactic  teacher  who  undertakes 
to  launch  schemes  which  do  not  directly  meet 
their  needs. 

The  same  situation  holds  for  the  class  room, 
only  unfortunately,  the  measure  of  success  is 
more  remote.  Children  are  forced  to  go  to  school 
and  it  is  only  when  we  pause  to  examine  farm 
conditions  in  general  that  we  come  to  a  realiza- 
tion of  the  extent  to  which  our  one-room  schools 
have  failed  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  children 
who  go  to  them.  If  the  teacher  wishes  to  meet 
these  needs  naturally  and  with  the  best  inter- 
ests of  the  child  and  the  nation  at  heart,  she  will 
meet  them  as  Mrs.  Harvey  has — that  is,  by  mak- 
ing a  curriculum  from  the  particular  needs  of 
her  pupils.  This  is  the  surest  criterion  for  the 
translation  of  educational  theories  into  prac- 
tice. It  is  this  fact  that  makes  it  possible  for 
one  teacher  to  do  all  that  Mrs.  Harvey  has  done 
at  Porter.  In  making  a  real  world  of  the  class 
room,  the  teacher  is  giving  the  children  the  best 


328          NEW  SCHOOLS  FOE  OLD 

possible  kind  of  education  as  well  as  creating  a 
group  of  workers  and  a  public  opinion  which 
will  make  possible  even  the  most  radical 
changes  in  the  educational  life  of  the  com- 
munity. 

It  is  not  the  specific  training  of  our  rural 
teachers  to-day  that  is  at  fault,  but  rather  their 
lack  of  purpose.  The  theoretical  training 
given  in  the  normal  schools  to-day  all  points  to 
the  value  of  such  teaching  as  Mrs.  Harvey's. 
The  point  of  view  which  results  in  the  success- 
ful application  of  these  theories  will  come  not 
so  much  from  a  different  kind  of  teaching  as 
from  a  keener  realization  of  the  relations  of 
education  to  our  government. 

In  school  the  child  is  supposed  to  acquire  the 
knowledge  and  understanding  of  our  institu- 
tions and  ideals  which  will  make  him  take  a 
conscientious  and  active  part  in  the  government. 
There  also  he  should  acquire  the  social  and 
technical  equipment  to  enable  him  to  develop 
to  the  full  his  natural  abilities.  In  America, 
public  schools  have  developed  to  meet  these  de- 
mands. They  are  an  off-shoot  of  democracy, 
designed  to  start  every  man  on  his  career  with 
the  same  chance.  Until  a  country  has  come  to 
believe  in  the  right  of  every  individual  to  rise 
as  high  as  his  natural  talents  will  allow,  educa- 


EDUCATION  FOR  DEMOCRACY    329 

tion  is  kept  for  the  governing  classes;  schools 
are  consciously  arranged  to  keep  alive  class  dis- 
tinctions and  to  shut  out  the  great  mass  of  the 
people.  The  mere  fact,  however,  that  a  country 
has  free  schools,  compulsory  attendance  and  a 
minimum  of  illiteracy  does  not  insure  an  ef- 
ficient democratic  citizenship.  Obviously,  be- 
ing educated  is  not  synonymous  with  being  a 
good  citizen;  there  is  no  inevitable  and  auto- 
matic government  which  must  follow  good 
schools.  The  schools  must  be  good  for  the 
ideals  which  a  nation  has  chosen  if  these  ideals 
are  to  be  realizable. 

The  war  has  awakened  a  fresh  interest  and 
belief  in  democracy.  As  we  have  seen  what  a 
dictated  and  autocratic  form  of  government  can 
do  to  the  minds  and  hearts  of  a  people,  \re  real- 
ize more  strongly  the  value  of  our  democracy. 
At  the  same  time  that  we  saw  the  necessity  of 
sending  men  to  Europe  to  fight  for  liberty,  we 
saw  the  worth  of  teaching  our  children  and  our 
citizens  from  other  countries  the  meaning  of 
democracy  in  more  practical  ways  than  by  fine 
phrases  and  catch-words.  Winning  the  war  in 
Europe  is  only  half  the  battle,  if  we  are  not  at 
the  same  time  consciously  striving  to  build  up 
at  home  a  method  for  developing  our  govern- 
ment and  institutions  along  lines  which  will  in- 


330         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

sure  the  widest  functioning  of  those  principles 
for  which  we  fought. 

We  have  seen  in  this  country  that  the  tools 
for  accomplishing  a  purpose  come  with  the  con- 
scious formulation  of  the  purpose,  and  they  are 
not  a  necessary  forerunner  of  the  desire  to  ac- 
complish. The  bringing  into  consciousness  and 
the  formulation  of  our  national  ideals  that  has 
followed  our  entry  into  the  war  has  done  more 
to  make  us  realize  our  power  as  a  nation  than 
could  have  been  done  in  a  generation  by  the  most 
expertly  imposed  educational  system.  And  al- 
ready that  consciousness  of  ideals  and  the  de- 
sire to  reach  an  end  has  produced  results  in  im- 
proved organization  and  creative  efficiency. 
Agricultural  practices  have  improved  more  dur- 
ing the  two  seasons  we  have  been  at  war  than 
for  years  before,  and  even  more  important  than 
this  is  the  new  understanding  of  the  relation  of 
the  farmer  to  the  economic  condition  of  the  en- 
tire country.  The  same  increase  in  the  quan- 
tity and  quality  of  product  has  resulted  with  the 
manufacture  of  ships  and  munitions  and  all 
government  supplies.  It  is  true  that  this  has 
been  done  to  meet  emergency  needs;  but 
that  does  not  lessen  the  significance  of  the 
fact  that  skill  and  ability  to  do  have  devel- 
oped simultaneously  with  the  need,  that  is, 


EDUCATION  FOR  DEMOCRACY    331 

with  the  statement  of  our  national  aims  and 
ideals. 

American  education  has  a  big  lesson  to  learn 
from  this:  what  we  need  is  not  a  certain  sys- 
tem, nor  a  lot  of  new  methods  and  equipment, 
but  a  direction,  a  conscious  purpose  towards 
which  the  schools  shall  strive.  We  can  do  no 
better  than  to  take  the  path  the  war  has  pointed, 
that  of  educating  for  democracy.  If  we  under- 
take that  our  own  immediate  problems  will  be- 
come so  concrete  that  a  child's  school  life  will 
hardly  seem  long  enough  to  give  him  all  the  ex- 
periences he  should  have  to  understand  his 
own  world.  Conscious  education  for  democracy 
is  just  beginning,  and  it  is  impossible  to  say 
what  form  it  should  take  even  for  the  moment. 
But  there  are  certain  principles  which  it  must 
follow  to  succeed.  The  nature  of  a  democracy 
is  such  that  the  concrete  manifestations  of  these 
principles  will  vary  with  the  time  and  place. 

Until  the  awakening  that  came  with  the  war, 
our  schools  suffered  from  too  little  planning  and 
foresight.  This  was  the  natural  outcome  of  the 
conditions  under  which  they  were  started.  They 
were  the  first  concrete  expression  of  the  idea 
that  all  men  are  born  free  and  equal,  and  were 
.  started  to  insure  equality  of  opportunity  for  all. 
Therefore,  they  adopted  a  system  which  would 


332         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

break  down  class  differences  and  tend  to  bring 
the  most  ignorant  and  poorest  up  to  the  level 
of  the  wealthiest  and  most  cultured.  The  aim 
was  not  so  much  to  teach  what  would  be  specifi- 
cally useful  to  the  pupil  when  he  started  to  earn 
a  living  as  to  give  him  knowledge  and  general 
culture  which  would  enable  him  to  hold  his  own 
as  a  citizen,  taking  an  active  part  in  the  gov- 
ernment of  his  own  community.  The  country 
offered  vast  natural  resources  and  the  popula- 
tion was  small,  so  that  there  was  no  need  of 
technical  training  to  equip  a  man  to  be  self-sup- 
porting. Independence,  initiative,  and  energy 
were  more  necessary  for  success  than  any  spe- 
cialized skill.  Therefore,  there  was  no  pressure 
upon  the  school  to  adapt  the  purely  academic 
training  that  had  served  the  leisure  classes  to 
any  more  practical  needs.  The  only  knowledge 
that  the  schools  had  to  give  to  insure  equal  op- 
portunity was  a  knowledge  of  how  to  read, 
write,  and  figure;  the  rest  of  the  school  time 
could  be  spent  on  the  luxuries  of  learning,  schol- 
arship, and  the  storing  up  of  facts.  This  was 
the  type  of  education  that  the  ruling  classes  had 
always  received;  the  new  democracy  purposed 
to  give  the  best  to  every  end  and  so  very  nat- 
urally they  copied  the  system  which  had  served 
the  privileged  few.  Since  they  did  insure  the 


EDUCATION  FOR  DEMOCRACY    333 

same  education,  regardless  of  birth  or  wealth, 
and  since  they  did  stand  for  the  best  that  our 
forefathers  brought  with  them  when  they  came 
to  this  country,  they  were  preeminently  suited 
to  start  a  democracy  on  its  way.  But  the 
schools  of  the  country  have  not  changed  with 
the  tremendous  change  in  conditions  that  has 
come.  Except  in  details  and  complication  of 
methods  the  schools  of  to-day  are  what  they 
were  when  our  great-grandfathers  went  to  them. 
Living  and  industrial  conditions  have,  however, 
altered  fundamentally ;  and  nowhere  more  than 
on  the  farms. 

The  most  far-reaching  of  these  changes  as  it 
affects  education  is  the  fact  that  each  farm  is 
no  longer  a  self-supporting  and  self-contained 
unit.  There  is  no  longer  the  unlimited  supply 
of  fertile  land  that  made  fertilization,  conser- 
vation, and  scientific  methods  unnecessary. 
Population  has  increased  so  that  each  farmer 
must  do  more  than  raise  enough  for  his  own 
family.  Machinery,  railroads,  telephones,  tele- 
graphs, automobiles,  and  rural  delivery  have  all 
invaded  the  farm,  bringing  a  simplification  of 
labor  processes  and  a  complication  of  social  and 
physical  desires.  The  old-fashioned  farm  pro- 
duced principally  to  supply  the  needs  of  the  peo- 
ple living  on  it,  the  little  money  necessary  was 


334         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

obtained  by  selling  surplus  crops.  Each  farm 
not  only  grew  everything  it  needed,  but  did  its 
own  carpentry,  blacksmithing,  weaving,  soap- 
making,  etc.  The  children  saw  all  these  proc- 
esses going  on,  and  by  helping  learned  how  to 
do  them.  The  meager  curriculum  of  the  school 
was  supplemented  by  the  richest  kind  of  course 
in  practical  science  and  industry  at  home,  so 
that  each  child  received  an  education  that  not 
only  gave  him  an  immediate  control  over  his 
own  environment,  but  furnished  him  with  the 
tools  for  going  as  much  further  as  he  wished. 
But  the  very  agents  that  brought  greater  com- 
fort to  the  farmer  have  done  away  with  the 
necessity  and  with  the  possibility  of  each  per- 
son knowing  how  to  supply  all  his  needs.  The 
result  is  that  the  experiences  of  children  at 
home  have  been  tremendously  narrowed,  and 
the  schools  have  not  expanded  to  make  up  for 
this  lack.  Although  our  present  industrial  or- 
ganization requires  an  individual  to  master 
only  a  few  mechanical  processes  to  become  self- 
supporting,  the  teaching  of  these  bare  processes 
cannot  be  substituted  for  a  real  education. 

The  increase  in  population  and  the  complica- 
tion of  industry  have  brought  about  another 
change  which  makes  conscious  direction  of  our 
schools  towards  democracy  necessary.  Not  only 


EDUCATION  FOR  DEMOCRACY    335 

is  it  unnecessary  for  each  individual  to  gain  a 
rough  mastery  of  all  the  ordinary  machinery  of 
living;  it  is  impossible  for  him  to  do  so.  The 
simplest  acts  of  our  everyday  life  are  so  de- 
pendent upon  intricate  scientific  principles,  and 
so  complicated  by  tools  and  machinery  which 
we  use  to  save  time  and  muscle  that  one  life- 
time would  not  be  long  enough  to  master  them 
all.  When  he  add  to  this  all  the  economic  and 
social  relationships  which  have  resulted  from 
our  ease  of  communication  and  transportation 
and  which  largely  make  up  the  richness  of  mod- 
ern life,  we  begin  to  realize  the  overwhelming 
number  of  facts  and  mass  of  subject-matter  in- 
volved. No  one  individual  can  cover  more  than 
a  small  portion  of  the  field.  This  has  resulted 
in  specialization,  which  is  becoming  more  and 
more  minute  as  industry  and  business  become 
more  dependent  upon  machinery.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  specialization  is  the  most  efficient 
method  for  the  production  of  wealth.  But 
while  it  intensifies  an  individual's  knowledge,  it 
limits  the  range  of  his  experience,  and  to  that 
extent  makes  him  less  fit  to  take  part  in  things 
outside  his  own  range  of  training.  It  tends  to 
separate  into  groups  people  who  are  pursuing 
like  or  closely  allied  occupations.  Groups  once 
formed,  no  matter  how  mechanical  the  reason 


336         NEW  SCHOOLS  FOR  OLD 

for  their  formation,  tend  to  develop  group  in- 
terests, group  ambitions,  and  gradually  a  feel- 
ing of  class  consciousness,  which  makes  them 
struggle  with  each  other,  each  trying  for  the 
dominant  position.  This,  if  it  is  not  offset  by 
conscious  national  aims,  a  realization  of  the  re- 
lation and  interdependence  of  the  groups,  and 
a  belief  in  the  dignity  of  labor  and  the  right  of 
everyone  to  a  full  development,  cannot  fail  to 
undermine  the  foundations  of  democracy.  The 
schools  are  the  only  place  where  it  is  possible 
to  give  everyone  alike  this  necessary  ground- 
work of  social  and  democratic  consciousness. 
They  should  be  very  careful  as  they  alter  to 
meet  changing  conditions,  to  recognize  not  only 
simple  economic  needs,  but  social  and  political 
changes  as  well. 

The  development  of  a  democracy  demands 
that  nothing  be  done  to  interfere  with  the  fluid- 
ity of  the  population :  there  must  be  no  barriers 
built  between  different  groups  and  occupations ; 
everything  must  be  kept  as  open  as  possible  to 
promote  free  and  sympathetic  communication. 
This  demands  common  interests  among  all  the 
people;  and  the  strongest  common  interest  be- 
tween people  widely  separated  by  space  and  oc- 
cupation is  the  evolution  of  their  government 
to  the  satisfaction  of  them  all. 


EDUCATION  FOR  DEMOCRACY    337 

It  is  essential  that  the  school,  as  the  only  in- 
strument we  possess  for  giving  every  one  the 
same  experience  in  understanding  the  ideals 
and  needs  of  a  democracy  and  their  own  parts 
in  it,  keep  pace  with  the  government's  progress. 
Sentimental  attachment  to  the  "Little  Red 
School  House"  of  yesterday  does  not  justify  the 
maintenance  of  an  anachronism  to-day.  Mrs. 
Harvey,  by  her  work  in  Porter  township,  has 
proved  that  the  plant  and  the  equipment  sur- 
viving from  a  formerly  prized  institution  may 
be  so  utilized  even  in  our  communities  as  at 
present  organized  that  the  school  may  again 
touch  every  interest  of  old  and  young. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
MAR  1  8  1964  LosAngeles 

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